Sunshine
by onlyonechairleft
Summary: Leah and Jacob realize something about his imprint, and things change quickly from there. Rated for language and minor lemons. Blackwater.  Story completed with a sequel now in process.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the toys, but I am playing in the sandbox.

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The Volturi had left; defeated (sort of) and the world began to return to normal for the La Push packs. Jacob and Sam remained at loggerheads, using any opportunity to snap and spit at one another.

Leah privately thought that it was only a matter of time before one or the other of them challenged for leadership. Watching Jake grow calmer and happier as time passed, she was pretty sure it would be Sam who broke first. Every time she saw _him_, he was angry. But the old hurts were fading, and she was almost ready to forgive him, now.

It was a rare day, sunny and warm, and she was sprawled by the cliff in wolf-form, waiting for her Alpha to appear. He'd all but ordered her to meet him there, calling her from Casa Vamp and demanding her presence. The other Pack were running patrols, and she relished the brief moments of solitude in her own head. Slowly, they were all beginning to move on from the Vampire 'problem'- but they still ran patrols and had meetings. It interfered, a little, with her studying (a correspondence course from the University of Seattle) and her job (part time in the store on the Rez) but there was something comfortable about her pack now; her boys. She had Jake to thank for it, she knew- giving her an out from Sam's pack and giving her the responsibility that came with being Beta. He was back in school, finishing his credits so he could graduate. Billy had insisted, and Jake, for once, hadn't fought him. He was working on the side, too, spending his weekends fixing cars and motors for the people on the Rez who couldn't afford a real mechanic. In her quieter times, she knew he was going to be an excellent leader for their people. Better than his father, better than her father. She shook herself, trying to clear the train of Jacob-worship that her mind was leading her on. She loved him. She'd admitted that to herself a long time ago, now. But he'd imprinted. It was a story she was familiar with- but at least Jake still treated her like a person; was still her best friend and Alpha. She could live with that. Besides, he didn't know, so she was safe from humiliation for now.

She heard him the moment he phased, linking to her mind instantly. He was only minutes away, running hard, his mind a jumble of thoughts she couldn't quite pin down. He was singing to himself, his mental voice fraught with tension. Something was definitely wrong. She rolled to her feet, suddenly completely alert.

"_What is it Jake? What's wrong?" _He ignored her, continuing to sing loudly and obnoxiously, and she caught just the tiniest flash of Edward. He was avoiding the Mind-Leech? Huh.

"_Okay, I guess I'll talk to you when you get here, then."_ She felt a wave of gratitude wash over her from him, and she phased out to human and dressed quickly, in cut off shorts and a wife-beater shirt. He didn't take long- minutes later, he was at her side, russet fur shining in the sunlight. He phased to human, and she did her best to avoid staring at his naked body as he dressed. He was gorgeous, and if he'd been in wolf form, he would definitely have noticed her heartbeat increase and the sudden rush of blood south. At the thought, she blushed- she was as bad as the boys.

"What's wrong, Jake?" He glanced at her quickly, opening his mouth to speak before clamping his jaw shut. His mouth was tense and his shoulders taut, waves of tension rolling off him. What the hell had happened since she saw him at breakfast?

"Jacob? What's the matter? Is it Nessie? Is she okay?" It had to be an imprint thing, right? At the girl's name, he twitched. So, she wasn't too far from the truth. "Come on Jake- you can't drag me out here on a Saturday afternoon and _not_ actually tell me what's going on." Of course it was his fucking imprint. _Everything_ was about Nessie, these days. What the hell had the Vamps done this time? Nessie was just a kid, still- so she couldn't have done anything herself. Hell, she was reading at a 12th grade level, but she would never hurt Jacob. Even Leah had to admit that.

"I think the imprint is wearing off."

"What. The. Fuck?!" Leah Clearwater, eloquent as ever.

"I said, I think-"

"I heard what you _said_, but you're gonna have to explain this one to me." He glanced over at her, his entire body a line of tension.

"I don't know what happened, Lee. I was sitting there and Rosalie made a joke about Ness growing up and moving to South America. And… I didn't _care_ Lee. I sat there, thinking 'Oh, I'd miss her', but I was thinking that I'd miss her in the same way I miss Rebecca, or Rachel when she was gone, and not the same way Quil misses Claire when she's away."

Leah was silent, sinking to the grass in shock. Could an imprint just wear off? Was that possible? Or was it because of who Nessie was?

"I took off- I called you from the house and then just ran. I think they think I'm upset that Nessie could leave, so they didn't follow. Edward tried, but I just kept singing that stupid song over and over until I crossed the treaty line." He collapsed next to her, his body falling onto the ground- like a wolf would drop, boneless.

"When did this start?" Her heart was pounding, and she could only hope he couldn't hear it. A tiny spring of hope burst in her chest and she crushed it, ruthless. She couldn't afford to hope.

"That's the thing Lee, I don't know. I got so used to Nessie being my imprint; in just wanting to spend time with her and be around her, that I don't know when it stopped being _need_ and just became _habit._" He took a deep breath in and then sighed. "And now? Now, I think… I think the imprint is gone. Just. _Gone._ I don't know how to explain it but… " He took another deep breath "… I'm starting to think it was never real, Lee."

Not real? How could it have not been real? Sure, Nessie wasn't Native, which was weird, but Jacob was a superAlpha, so who said his soul mate would be Native? She was half Vamp, of course, and could send her thoughts out through her skin and she had a stupid name, but she was okay, she was a nice kid. How could the imprint have been _not_ real?

"What? How? How would that even be possible?" Even as she asked, the picture painted itself in her head. Nessie, newborn and desperate, her mother dying and her father absent, being comforted and held by a baby-crazy Vampire, and enter an Alpha Wolf, fully intent on killing her; ending her life. Her only power was in making people see things; hear things. So… she _made_ him imprint?

He raised an eyebrow at her as her face dropped, knowing she'd followed the same line of thinking as he had.

"I'm so angry, Lee. I _never_ wanted to imprint. You know that. I was in a daze afterwards, wondering how it had happened when I was so set against it for so long. I know Ness was a baby, and she was saving her own life, I guess. But…" He growled then, from deep in his chest and her heartbeat quickened again.

"Is it Nessie that you're angry with, Jake?" She asked quietly. He met her gaze, and grinned wryly.

"No, it's not. She's just a kid, she didn't know any better." A shadow crossed his face, and Leah could almost guess what was coming next. "I'm angry with Bella. And Edward. And myself. We should have seen it! We should have known! I've wasted… Lee, I've wasted a _year_ of my life stuck with this kid, and there was no reason for it! A whole YEAR!" He leapt to his feet and stalked to the edge of the cliff. It had been a long time since he'd gone cliff-diving. He'd stopped, out of guilt for what would happen to _Nessie_ if he was hurt.

"GODDAMIT!" He roared, shaking with anger. "I didn't want it- I never wanted it! And she forced it on me, using MY fucking heritage against me, twisting me inside out and changing my mind on everything. She brought the Volturi here, just by existing. I risked my family, everything I have, to keep her safe, and it was for NOTHING. Just a stupid fucking wolf tricked by a Vampire." Leah let him rant, pacing the edge of the cliff. She hadn't seen him this worked up in years. It was… different. "And Edward MUST have known. He must've. He's seen Quil's mind, and mine- there has to have been a difference, all along. But I was so caught up I couldn't see it; couldn't feel the difference between me and Ness and what happened the others. Never questioned why I could still feel- ARGH" He broke off, biting back words he didn't want her to hear. He dropped to the ground at the cliffs edge letting his legs dangle over the edge. Leah approached him slowly, warily. He was close to phasing, his skin humming a little in the tell-tale vibrations. She crouched low next to him.

"I have to say Jake, I'm happy." He glanced at her, disbelief written across his features. She smiled, a genuine smile for once, blinding him a little. "The way I see it is, you just got your future back, Jake. You may have wasted a year- you could see it like that-, but you just got the rest of your life back to yourself. No Vamps expecting you to travel the world with them, expecting you to pack up and leave your home; your people, to keep their little princess happy. No more threats from the Volturi. You'll be able to go to college, wherever you want. Or not, if you want- and you won't feel bad about it because you're not living up to what Nessie expects from you. You're free Jake. Free."

Realisation dawned and she could see it in his face- he was freed from it; rescued from an imprint he had never wanted and had quietly resented for a year. His face registered joy and he pulled her into an impulsive hug.

"Thanks Leah. I knew I could count on you." She relaxed into his embrace, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, breathing in the smell of _him._ He was free. She was happy. The sun was shining. He stood up, dragging her with him.

"Dive with me?" He asked, glancing downwards, grinning. The smile was back- the carefree, joyful smile that he'd had, long before Bella Swan came back and turned all their lives upside down. She was certain it had been gone for at least that long.

"Sure. Someone has to make sure you don't drown yourself." His grin widened and he took her hand, dragging her back a few steps.

"On three?" Laughing, she dropped his hand and took off, running.

"Catch me if you can, Black." And she jumped, her heart singing for the first time in a long, long time, the salty spray from the waves below washing any trace of happy tears from her face.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all who reviewed CH1. Your reviews are much appreciated! :)

I have a plan for this for 4/5 chapters, so it should be pretty short, really.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

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He was laughing as he jumped, leaping out over the waves in a graceful dive that he hadn't been able to achieve as a full-human. All he could see was the sea- waves, stretching out to infinity on the horizon, the reflection of the sunlight almost blinding him. The crash of water on the rocks almost drowned out Leah's joyful yell as she fell, but he glanced her way as she crashed into the water. The wind whipped at his face and he laughed again, crashing to the water with an impressive splash, sinking hard and fast into the salt water. Kicking out, he pushed himself back to the surface, breaking through and taking a much-needed deep breath. Leah was treading water, not far away.

"That felt great!" She yelled, grinning.

"Race you to the top?" He challenged, grinning back. Her eyes glinted; she nodded once, and dove under water. He took a deep breath and followed, reaching out to grab her ankle and slow her down. She was faster than him- faster runner; faster swimmer. So he had to play dirty to stand a chance of beating her. They surfaced, laughing, and she punched him in the shoulder, diving to get away from him, making slow progress toward the beach. He caught her by the wrist, dragging her backward and she kicked out, making contact with his chin and he couldn't help but wince. But she was slowed down, and he took his chance to race past her, racing for the beach as fast as he could. He beat her to the beach by seconds, not stopping to check if she made it okay because he could hear her behind him, panting hard and running as fast as she could on the loose sand. Images whipped past him as he ran- people laughing and pointing; sand; trees; one quick sighting of a wolf he thought was Jared. He didn't slow for them. Her shoes were only slowing her down, but he was barefoot and it almost made up the difference. He tore up the beach, desperate for seconds, fighting the urge to phase and increase his speed, knowing that if he took that step, she'd definitely beat him- no-one could outrun Leah in wolf form. He ran, feet pounding and navigating the woods and the loose rocks as he began the climb back to the cliff.

She was behind him, cursing his name and laughing. Jake ran faster, pushing himself harder, forcing deep breaths and forcing more speed from his tired legs. His mind was clear, his goal was defined- and for the first time in months, his mind was free from thoughts of Vampires; imprints and the future. He was here, now, racing against his Beta and he was _free._ He almost made it, could see the cliff edge mere metres away, when she caught him- smacking him on the ass as she breezed past him, grinning widely. Her grin caught him- she looked happier than he'd seen her in a long time, and it warmed his heart to see it. She laughed, glanced back at him, and kept running- out, and over the cliff edge once again in an elegant dive. He could only follow- leaping up high and curving his body downwards, hands first. The falling was faster, this time, the wild excitement burning in his blood and he couldn't remember why he stopped this; what could possibly have made him give this up? He didn't have time to think, his body hitting the waves and the water caressing him, washing away the sweat he'd built up on his run. He surfaced, breathing hard, only to see Leah, grinning at him smugly.

"Cheater!" She yelled, slapping water in his face. He couldn't deny it, so he didn't bother, gesturing to the beach instead.

"I'll beat you someday, Clearwater!" He laughed. They swam together this time, making it back to the beach pretty swiftly. It had been Jared he'd seen in the woods and the man was waiting for them at the water's edge, Kim; Paul and Rachel standing with him. Jacob grinned, waving to them from the shallow water, even as he turned back to Leah. She was struggling to control her long hair as it plastered itself to her face and she was cursing and muttering threats under her breath.

"Come on, slow coach- what's the hold up?" His own hair was cropped short again, after Rosalie had commented on how scruffy he'd been starting to look. He made the decision, there and then, that he was going to let it grow out again- no more conforming to whatever the Vampire's thought was proper. To be fair to Rosalie, she hadn't meant harm in it- but he'd been so eager to keep them happy; to keep the peace and make sure that Nessie was happy, that he'd done whatever it took. But that was over, now. He grinned widely, and caught the punch Leah threw at him with one hand, and dragged her over to the others as she cursed him every step of the way.

"Hey Rach. Guys. What's going on?" Jared and Paul shared a glance, brief expressions of confusion on their faces.

"Enjoying the sunshine, Jake. And staying out of the way of two crazy people, throwing themselves off cliffs." Rachel joked, and her brother reached out, ruffling her hair.

"Oh yeah? And who was it took me cliff diving the very first time, huh?" She made a face, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I was a stupid teenager. How was I to know you'd take a liking to it?" He didn't respond, his attention distracted by the two Shifters on either side of his sister.

"Seriously, Paul; Jared, what's wrong? You guys look… tense. What's happened?" His tone was still light- they weren't in wolf form, so whatever it was couldn't have been too bad.

Jared spoke, his voice laced with doubt and confusion written all over his face.

"We were at Sam's and he got a call from the Leeches- the little psychic one was freaking out, saying that you were going to die and that we had to find you. We've been looking all over for you- we came here to get Rachel. Seth's already gone to get your dad, and the whole council is assembled. We thought you were dead. And then… here you are. Cliff diving." Jacob glanced at Leah and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged in response.

"Alice has been wrong when it's come to cliff diving before. We all know that. Vampires- so melodramatic." It wasn't the response they were expecting, and Paul seemed stunned to silence. Jared was only a little more composed.

"It's not like she can see our futures anyway- she probably got a flash of something completely random and freaked out. It wouldn't be the first time." Leah added, moving up to stand beside her Alpha.

"What's going on Jake? Something's… different." He couldn't tell what. The younger boy shrugged, unconsciously mimicking his Beta's earlier move.

"I'm not sure yet Jared. But thanks, guys, for looking out for me- I appreciate it. I'll call over to Sam's and fill him in after I go see my dad."

"And the Leeches? Seth said that Embry said that they're pacing the boarder. Bella came pretty close to crossing it, but Edward has persuaded her not to. Told her not to do anything she'd regret later."

Jacob shrugged again.

"I'll get to them when I get to them. They've got nothing but time, Jared." He swung his attention back to his sister,

"Do you have the car?" She nodded, her face ashen- the boys obviously hadn't had the chance to tell her what was happening, and the idea of her brother dying seemed to have shaken her pretty badly. "Can you drop me back to the house, please?" She nodded absently, gathering her things together. Kim was collecting her things, too, quietly offering her support to her friend but not knowing what to say. Jacob saw it- saw the hand she placed on Rachel's shoulder, and the tears in his sister's eyes. He reached out, ignoring Paul's growl, and pulled his sister into a hug.

"It's okay, Rach- I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. I'm okay, and I am absolutely not planning on dying anytime soon."

"Yeah Rach, the only way Jake is gonna die is if I kill him myself as part of my coup to take over the pack." Leah joked. Rachel giggled, a little, though it felt too soon to laugh.

"Paul, will you stay with her while I go see Sam? You know Rach- she'll pretend to be fine and then snap and break all the dishes." His sister smacked him and pushed her way out of his embrace, glaring up at her brother even as her boyfriend agreed.

"How dare you joke about this?! It's not funny. There's NOTHING funny about this, and here you and Leah are laughing and joking and _Cliff Diving_ when the Cullens are saying you're going to _die_? How can you-" Her voice trailed off, catching the glance between her brother and her oldest friend. "You know something. You both know something. Tell me!" She demanded, poking him in the chest with an angry finger.

"Not here Rach, and not now. Just trust me, okay?" She met his stare for a second, before deciding that whatever she saw in his eyes was enough, and she nodded slowly in agreement, stepping out of his embrace and into Paul's.

"Take the keys- I'll walk back." She handed the keys over, hand shaking slightly, and Jacob took them carefully.

"Kim, do you need a ride?" The girl's eyes widened, and she glanced up at him, slightly shocked. She lived not far from Jake, but she had never known he knew that. He'd only spoken to her twice, maybe, in the whole time they'd known each other.

"Yeah, that'd be great, Jacob, thank you." Jared trembled a little, under her hand, and Leah helped her collect her things.

"Jared- could you run ahead to Sam's, please, and have Seth call Embry back. Don't tell Seth you've seen me until after Embry's back. Do you know where Quil is? I'll call him from the house, and I'll meet you all at Sam's." He took Kim's bag in one hand, holding the keys in the other, and started the short walk across the sand toward the car park.

"Kim, you're in college right? Jared mentioned you're studying to be a nurse?" He turned his back on the other wolves and his sister, trusting Leah to follow him.

"You guys heard the man- move." She snapped. But her words didn't hold their usual bite, and her wide grin looked out of place. Almost against their will, Paul and Jared began to move- following Jake's orders almost as if he was their Alpha, not Sam. Leah, biting her lip for once, chose not to point that out.

* * *

_At the Borderline_

Embry was pacing back and forth, his entire body shaking with the urge to run; to join the search. He could hear Seth and Quil, frantically searching for the scent of their Alpha- his friend. On the other side of the border, the entire Cullen coven was assembled. He was talking to them through Edward, while Emmett physically restrained Bella from crossing the boarder in her desperation to find her friend. The child was calm, resting in Rosalie's arms and humming to herself. She appeared about four, now, for all that she was only a year old. Embry was pretty sure that they hadn't told her what was going on- she was far too calm for that. The rest… well, apart from Bella, he couldn't say that any of them really appeared too upset. Alice and Jasper were at her side, trying to keep her calm. The psychic was shaking, a little, and seemed completely unnerved, but he couldn't tell if it was from fear for Jake or fear of Bella. That annoyed him, but he couldn't dwell on it. Every bone in his body was crying out to join his brothers- the Vamps were a secondary concern. If they crossed the border, they would die. If Bella crossed the border to find Jake… that he might forgive, but the rest? They would die. Edward winced, recognising the truth in the thoughts.

It wasn't long, although it felt like an eternity, before Seth phased out to talk to Sam and it was just Quil in his head. They were Jacob's oldest friends, and the fear that gripped his heart was mirrored in Quil.

_He can't be dead, Em. We'd know, wouldn't we? We couldn't still be a pack if our Alpha was dead, right?_ The worry behind the words belied the seeming callousness- Embry could sense that Quil was grasping at straws.

_I don't know. I don't know. I just… he can't be dead. Things were finally starting to get better. He can't be dead… _The news that Alice could suddenly see Nessie's future, so close on the back of Jake's running away from Casa Cullen, frantic, had thrown all the wolves for a loop- Jake wouldn't just _leave_ his imprint, not unless he thought there was a danger. And if there was a danger, then where was he? What had happened? Where had he gone?

_Embry? Quil? _Seth was back, perched on the back porch of Sam and Emily's house. _Sam says you're to come here, now. Jared's here too. _The younger boy's mind was filled with confusion, and Embry could see Jared through the other's eyes- Jared, who was sitting, silent, on the sofa in Sam's living room, refusing to meet anyone's eyes, his shoulders tense. A wave of grief passed through the three of them, suddenly. What could be so bad that Jared wouldn't even _tell_ them? He was running before Seth finished speaking, and he could feel Quil doing the same- racing toward Sam's home as quickly as possible.

_Has anyone found Leah yet?_ That their Beta was MIA wasn't necessarily worrying, in and of itself. But on top of Jake's disappearance, it was cause for concern.

_I called Mom. She said Leah got a call from Jake earlier, and she ran off to meet him._ And the wave of grief doubled, and it was all Embry could do not to tilt his head back and howl.

Behind him, over the border, Edward was relaying what had happened to his family, and Embry could hear Bella, clawing at the other Vampires, desperate to get away and find her friend. He didn't pause- they'd stop her, or they'd die. He didn't care which, he just kept running.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This is the last one for today, I swear.

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight.

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Bella watched, helpless, as Embry disappeared into the trees. He hadn't even bothered to tell them what was happening- just turned and ran. But she could tell, by the pained expression on Jasper's face and Edward's wince that whatever he'd been told hadn't been pleasant.

"Seth called him back to the house- apparently Jared has some news. But Leah is missing too- it seems she went to meet him after he ran from us, and no-one knows where they are." Bella swore that if her heart could still beat, it would have constricted. Jacob, her Jacob, was missing, and there was nothing she could do about it. Anger rose and she threw herself against Emmett's grasp once again, using all of her newborn strength to fight against him, snarling and spitting like a cat, all rational thought gone. Her only concern was Jacob- even Renesmee, who she was so careful to appear human around, flew from her mind as she struggled. Her anger disappeared suddenly, quietened by Jasper's hand on her shoulder, but she couldn't summon the energy to be annoyed with him.

"He can't be dead. He's not allowed to die. He's _Jacob_." They didn't understand- she could see that. They hadn't been here; hadn't seen how he'd pieced her back together, bit by bit. How he'd welcomed her into his family, his tribe- his pack, and protected her against vampires, death and probably most importantly, against herself. Edward might be her reason for living, but Jake was the reason she was still alive. She owed him more than she could ever repay. She owed them all, but Jake most especially. Just when she thought everything was okay; that she'd have him with her forever… She felt like she was choking again, desperate for air that she no longer needed; fighting the urge to race across the border to La Push, the town she knew so well. She was certain it was a mistake- she could go to his house, walk into the garage and he'd be there, tinkering with the Rabbit or playing video games with the boys. She fell to her knees, dry sobs heaving in her chest.

"Tell me again _exactly_ what you saw, Alice." She didn't even recognise her own voice.

The petite Vampiress dropped to her knees in the dirt beside her.

"It wasn't one thing Bella, it was everything. Nessie's whole future just opened up in front of her- school; boys; holidays. Everything, the same as with the rest of you. There's a shadow, following her- something missing in each vision. But it's her future, laid out like a road map."

"And the shadow?" She knew the answer. But she wanted Alice to say it to her.

"It must be Jacob, gone. There's nothing else it could be." She got to her feet, slowly, Emmett's arms wrapped firmly around her middle. He wasn't letting go.

"Ness?" It was a sign of how upset she was that she called her daughter by the stupid nickname that Jake had given her. Secretly, she regretted the moniker she'd graced her daughter with- but she'd never admit it. Never. _Ness_ was better, marginally. Rosalie came forward and handed the child over, carefully.

"Yes, Momma?"

"You remember we had a talk once, about how you could feel Jacob, in here?" And she placed her hand over her child's beating heart. The little girl nodded, her eyes sad. She was smart- they hadn't told her what was going on, but she knew. "Can you still feel him, sweetie?" Her heart broke again as her child shook her head slowly.

_No, Momma. _She sent the message through her skin, and the wave of sadness that went with it matched Bella's own. Tears sprang up in Nessie's eyes. _Why has he left us?_

"I don't know, Ness. I don't know. I'm sorry." She glanced down at the child in her arms, cradling her gently to her chest, ignoring the grip Emmett still held on her. "Let's go home. They'll tell us when they know something." In the privacy of her own head, the last little pieces of Bella Swan died and, clutching her daughter to her chest, Bella Cullen led her family home.

The mansion was cold, she noticed, feeling it for the first time. Nessie had cried, all the way home. They'd walked slowly, hoping that Embry or one of the others would come back and tell her that they were wrong; that he was alive and well and that Leah was fine and that there was a perfectly good explanation. But with each step, she began to accept it. Jacob was dead. He was gone. Her personal sun; her saviour; her daughter's soul mate. He was never coming back. She couldn't stay here anymore; couldn't exist in a place that reminded her so strongly of him. She'd wait, to find out what had happened, but she was already planning their move. There was a house already prepared close to Dartmouth, she knew- it would do for the short term. She only had one remaining tie to Forks, and Charlie Swan wasn't a good enough reason to keep her here. She put Ness to bed; the child was exhausted from crying- something she was entirely unused to. The rest of the family was gathered in the living room, somber for once. No-one had called, yet, and it had been more than an hour.

The Pack had forgotten her, she knew. Jake had been the only one to really care, after she had turned. They'd liked her well enough, before, but without him now, she knew they'd forget her- let her die like she should have, so many months before. But she hadn't forgotten them, yet.

"Does anyone have a cell phone?" She asked, quietly. She couldn't help but wonder if Jasper was still dampening her emotions. She felt… numb. Not heartless, but… empty. Edward- her wonderful, kind, husband- offered her his and she took it with shaking fingers.

She still knew the number by heart, of course. But the phone at the Black house rang out. So did Jacob's cell, and the number she knew for Sam Uley.

"No-one's answering." She relayed. Her family reacted much as she'd expected- unsure silence. They weren't used to grief. She dialed her father's number. He answered on the third ring, his voice cheerful.

"Sheriff Swan speaking." She hung up. He wouldn't have been cheerful if he knew anything. She couldn't talk to him if he didn't know anything. She sank onto the sofa, staring at the floor, wordless.

"Bella? Is there anything I can do, love?" His voice, which she usually treasured, sounded cold and harsh to her ears. She wanted so badly to snap at him, demand he make her _not_ a vampire so she could cross the boundary and find her friend, but she didn't. She knew she'd regret it later, and that he would never forget the words. Instead, she shook her head slowly. No. There was nothing he could do. They could only wait.

Her waiting was interrupted a few minutes later by a scream from upstairs- for the first time in her life; Renesmee Cullen was having a nightmare.

* * *

_Earlier, across the border_

Jacob was driving; slowly for once out of consideration to his full-human passenger, with Leah in the passenger seat. Kim was sprawled in the back, regaling them with stories of her life, making the two wolves shake with laughter. Who knew Kim was funny? Leah certainly hadn't realised it- she was always so quiet. But the girl possessed a clinical, sarcastic humour that was all the funnier for the surprise.

"I swear, if Jared drags me to another pointless Pack bonding sessions, I'm going to suggest we all put our keys in a bowl and just go for it." She paused, "Of course, there are more boys than girls, so we might have to double up." She caught Leah's eye in the rear-view mirror and winked suggestively. The female wolf barked a laugh, and Jacob reddened.

"Oh god- I need bleach! Bleach for the mind-pictures!" He shuddered dramatically.

"Oh, and you haven't inflicted naughty mind pictures on the rest? Jared told me _all_ about the pack lust for Bella Swan." Her tone was teasing, but even so, the words didn't hurt. He missed her, he could admit that- but he missed a human girl who had been dead for more than a year. He couldn't believe that the Bella Swan he had known and loved would intentionally keep something so hurtful from him. But he would deal with those emotions later, as soon as he figured out what to tell the packs.

"That was _nothing_ compared to the pack-induced lust for _you_, Kim. I've had my own naughty dreams about you, you know?" Leah commented, turning to grace the other girl with an appreciative leer. Kim, to her credit, didn't blush. But she couldn't speak, either. Jacob coughed, loudly, and narrowly avoided crashing the car. "More bleach, Jake?" She added. He took a deep breath to quell the coughing, and glanced sideways, leering at her,

"No, I think I'll keep that one, thanks Lee."

He pulled up outside her house pretty soon after, and hopped out of the car, still red in the face, and pulled forward the driver's seat to let Kim out of the backseat.

"Thanks for the ride Jake. See you later Leah!" She jogged away, and was almost up the steps to her front door when Jacob called her back. Eyebrows raised in question, she watched him take a few steps forward. When he spoke, his voice was low. Even so, they both knew Leah could hear every word.

"I, uh, just wanted to thank you, for being so good to my sister. It's really hard for her, being back here without Becks, and I know you spend a lot of time with her. So, thank you." Her gaze turned calculating.

"You're not really what I expected, Jacob Black." She smiled, slyly. "Rachel would kill you if she knew you'd said that to me." He grinned.

"I can handle my sister, Kimmie." He winked. "I know all the best blackmail material." She was really not surprised. Rachel Black had been the wild child of the family. There was probably a lot she didn't want anyone to know.

"You're welcome, Jake." She glanced up at him, amazed by how tall he was, even though Jared towered over her, too. "And, for what it's worth, I'm glad you're not dead."

He rolled his eyes and moved back to the car.

"I'll see you at the next meeting- don't forget your keys." She giggled, waved to Leah, and watched as they drove away.

Leah, for her part, had been listening intently to what went on between them. Inwardly, she couldn't help but marvel at Jake, and how quickly he was slipping back to the personality he'd had before he'd shifted. He was being carelessly kind, again- normally, something that was only reserved for his pack and his family. He was laughing, grinning, and far more open than she had seen him in years. Even in his lighter moments with the pack, there had always been a dark shadow of _something_ hanging over him. It seemed to be gone, now.

"Jared was right. Something is different. Everyone will notice." His expression turned serious.

"I know." He pulled the car over, parking outside the store she worked in. She was due there in a couple of hours, for the evening shift. "I can't tell them that the imprint was fake. There's too much tension there already, and whatever else happens, I can't blame Nessie for this. She's just a kid."

"But we can't pretend that you broke it, either- they'll know that's a lie." _They'll know, because it's so hard to hold anything back from them. They'll know, because the whole world changes if it's true._

"Any suggestions?" She had one. One crazy suggestion.

"They'd listen if you Alpha-commanded them to listen. They wouldn't touch her, then. They'd hate it, but Ness would be safe." He looked at her, surprised.

"But I don't want to _be_ Alpha. That's Sam's obsession."

"Have you got a better idea?" Unfortunately, no. He hadn't. Sam would be furious when he found out the truth. Jacob had to keep Nessie safe. Jacob couldn't control Sam.

"We could always convince the Cullens to just leave? Except that I'm pretty certain limbs would be lost if I went over there right now." Scratch that as a bad idea. No matter how they'd treated him, he didn't _actively_ hate them. All.

"I'll think about it. First, I need to find my dad and tell him I'm not dead. And I'm hungry, but maybe Emily will feed me. She cooks when she's upset, right?" Leah nodded, marvelling that the mention of her cousin didn't bring forth the usual feelings of pain and heartache. Maybe she really was moving on. "D'ya reckon my near-death experience would have upset her enough for muffins?"

Leah threw back her head and laughed.

"I think you warrant pot-roast, numbskull."

He started the engine again, driving faster now that Kim was home safe. It didn't take long to get to his house, only minutes. He left the engine running and ran inside, fairly certain already that his father wasn't there. He checked anyway, just to be sure, and grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard above the sink, to quieten the growling in his stomach.

"He's not here. Maybe your house? Jared said the council had gathered- what do you think? Your place or the meeting centre?" Leah shrugged, grabbing the bag from him and ripping it open as he sat back into the car.

"We can drive past the meeting centre on the way to Sam's- if he's there, we'll stop. If he's not, we can call my Mom from Sam's and check there."

The meeting centre proved a bust, too, frustrating the two wolves.

"How difficult can it be to find one old man in a wheelchair in a town with a population of fifty?" Jake grumbled. "I bet he knows that I'm fine, and he's gone fishing with Charlie." He couldn't keep the worry from his face, though. Billy wasn't well. Everyone in the pack knew it. His diabetes was tricky and combined with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Jake worried that the news of his son's apparent demise hadn't pushed him over the edge. He wished suddenly, fiercely, that he'd told Jared to tell everyone the truth, instead of trying to buy himself some time.

"I have a really, really bad feeling about this, Lee." And suddenly, his heart was sinking and his stomach churned. He needed to find his dad. Fast.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. :)

* * *

"Ness? Sweetie? Wake up." Bella shook her sleeping daughter gently, hoping to wake the girl from her nightmare. It took a few minutes, but eventually Nessie's eyes opened and she gazed at her mother for a second before bursting into tears and flinging her small body into her mother's embrace. Bella hugged her tightly, rubbing circles on the child's back.

"What's the matter sweetie? Tell me what your nightmare was." Nessie sniffled and, instead of telling her, she reached up and placed her palm flat against her mother's face. Bella stiffened as the memory of the nightmare washed over her. It was, much as she'd imagined, a barrage of images of Jacob and the hole in Nessie's heart where the imprint had been. Bella couldn't cry, and she envied her daughter her tears.

"Oh, Ness. I'm so sorry sweetie." The little girl sobbed, angrily.

"Why did he leave me, Momma? What did I do wrong?"

"It's nothing that you did, Nessie. You know what death is, don't you? I know you've spoken about it with your daddy" In some dim part of her mind, she couldn't believe that she was having this conversation with a one year old.

"Yes, Momma. Daddy said that death is when you leave this world and go to a better place, like Heaven or the Elysian fields; or Valhalla. Or if you were evil and only did bad things, you go to Hell and you're punished for eternity." Briefly, Bella wondered where _she_ and the rest of the Vampires fit in to Edwards' view of religion and the afterlife.

"Something like that, yes. And when people go away from this world, they aren't leaving you. They don't want to leave you- but they don't have a choice. It's not something that they decide, usually. So Jake didn't leave you Ness, he's gone to one of those places your daddy told you about."

"Momma, Jake's not _dead._ He DID leave me! But he's not _dead._" She sounded, by turns, incredulous and scathing, and more like Rose's child in that moment than hers. "He left me because I did something wrong, and I need to talk to him to make it better. He's my Jacob. He's not allowed leave me." And then her tears returned, and Bella, confused, pulled her daughter into her embrace again. What the hell was going on?

Eventually, the girl cried herself back to sleep and Bella separated herself from her child and returned to the rest of the family. Edward, standing next to his piano, was at the receiving end of some nasty glares from Alice and Emmett, and he looked… pained.

"What's going on?" She demanded, her voice high and shrill and not nearly as beautiful as she'd imagined it would be, pre-change. Edward glanced at her, but ducked his head and averted his gaze before she could meet his eyes. Alice frowned, the expression out of place on her usually cheerful face.

"Edward has been keeping something from us, and he was just about to explain why."

"Wait, what? Edward?" Her heart had already broken once today- had she been human still; she knew she couldn't have handled anything else.

"Bella, my love, you have to understand- I didn't know; not for weeks. Not for sure until after the Volturi and I saw more of the wolves' minds."

"Didn't know _what_, exactly?" A feeling of building dread crept over her, and for the first time since she changed, she felt sick.

Edward finally met her gaze.

"Jacob's imprint… wasn't real. Not really, real. Nessie… I think her power goes further than we first assumed. I don't think she needs skin to skin contact, not all the time. So, when Jake was here and trying to kill her, she reached out and convinced him that he had imprinted."

"She did _WHAT?!_ And you didn't TELL him?!"

He didn't get the chance to defend himself or his motives, as Emmett jumped in, instead.

"Bella- the important thing here, right now, is that Jacob probably isn't dead- he did what Nessie said: he left her. He broke the imprint. Fake-imprint. Whatever. That's why Alice can see Nessie's future." She swung her furious gaze on him, and the big vampire could see the knowledge dawning on her face. He wasn't expecting her to throw herself at him, nearly crushing him with her embrace, but he gathered her in his arms nonetheless, shooting a glare over her shoulder to Edward, whose guilty expression had faded into a pout.

"I need to go to La Push- we need to tell the wolves we were wrong- we need to tell them-" She stopped, pulled back from Emmett and her eyes widened. "We need to get Nessie out of here before Sam finds out."

The scent of wolf that swept through the house told her, suddenly, that they were too late.

* * *

"Jake, slow down! Getting both of us killed in a car wreck is not going to help the situation!" Leah wasn't normally afraid of much of anything. Jacob Black's driving was quickly making an appearance on her short list. He growled, ignoring her as he pressed his foot to the accelerator.

The rounded the corner to the meeting centre, and his foot slammed on the brake, instead. Her own heart caught in her throat- right outside the door, the ambulance from Forks General was perched, rear doors swinging open. Jake managed to park the car, somehow, and they were running; rushing to the centre. They were mere metres away when she saw her mother, her eyes red from crying, following the stretcher out, the paramedics on either side, holding it steady down the steps.

She knew the second Jacob saw, because he stopped in his tracks, rooted to the ground. The sheet-covered mound on the stretcher had his heart in his throat and he felt, suddenly, like vomiting. Sue Clearwater saw them seconds later, and the look on her face when she saw Jacob was enough to tell Leah that the figure on the stretcher was, without a doubt, Billy Black. Jacob started moving again, jogging toward the ambulance, ignoring the shouts of the paramedics as he pulled back the sheet.

In death, Billy Black looked younger. He looked almost as if he was sleeping. Jacob placed a single kiss on his father's forehead before replacing the sheet.

"Heart attack?" He asked. Sue nodded, reaching out to touch him in an attempt at comfort that he shrugged off. His jaw tensed.

"Leah? Can you get Rachel, please? Bring her to straight to Sam's, I'll meet you there. Sue- are the rest of the council inside?" Leah was already leaving, running to the Rabbit. Her memories of her father's death were surfacing, bringing back the old pain and grief, but she was ruthless in pushing them back.

Sue nodded to Jacob, again- 'rest' of the council was Old Quil and Sam, more or less.

"Thank you, Sue. For being with him, at the end. I appreciate that. He wouldn't have wanted to die alone. Have you spoken to Charlie, yet?" He didn't wait for her answer, just helped the paramedics to move the stretcher back into the ambulance, and thanked them for their attempts to save him, before turning back to Sue.

"We'll need to organise the purification rites. Old Quil organised Harry's, didn't he?" Old Quil, who was at least thirty years older than Billy Black and Harry Clearwater, and who would have to bury them both in three short years. Sue, he noted, looked devastated as her oldest friend was driven away.

"Yes, he did. We can speak to him about it, now." She turned back to the meeting centre, and Jacob followed her obediently.

"When did it happen?" He asked.

"Almost an hour ago. We met her and Sam told us what the Cold Ones had told him. There was nothing anyone could have done- the shock was too much." His jaw tensed. He'd been cliff diving; relishing his freedom as his father lay dying, thinking his child dead.

Inside, Old Quil and Sam were sitting together, stunned to silence. Quil was ashen-faced; devastated. Sam appeared shocked; his expression blank. He could feel grief creeping up on him- for Jacob, the wolf who should have been his closest brother; his once-Beta; his only rival.

"Quil, Sam. We have business to attend to, and then we need to bury my father." Sam's head shot up, and reached a tired hand to rub his eyes, amazed at the sight in front of him. And then he was moving; across the room, embracing the younger man.

"Jacob, I'm so sorry." His voice cracked, and Jacob could hear the grief and tears in it, "We thought you were dead; I thought you were dead." Jacob might have been shocked, but he forced himself to return the hug, letting the other man lean on him for comfort.

"Its okay, Sam. I'm fine, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." One hand awkwardly patted the crying man on the back while the other held Sam's head tightly to his shoulder as he sobbed.

Later, when anyone asked how the fight for dominance went down, neither Sam or Jacob would admit that, right there in the meeting centre, instead of the epic fight everyone had been expecting, it was Sam's admittance with tears that made Jake his leader; his Alpha. His Chief. His show of submission and the comfort he gained from Jake's very existence made it clear to all of them that there was only one Alpha wolf in La Push.

Jacob let Sam rest on his shoulder for a time, both of them feeling the change as the power shifted between them. When the older man was ready, he took a step back, wiped his eyes and didn't dare look his Alpha in the eye.

"Thank you, Sam, for being here with my father when he died. I know he had a lot of respect for you." A ghost of a grin passed across Jake's face, and Sam glanced up, half-smiling in return.

"We have a lot of pack stuff to figure out, I know. But for now, can you go to your house, tell everyone that I'm not dead, and wait for Leah to come back with Rachel, and then send Leah to me." Sam nodded, moving to fulfil his leader's orders before Jacob had even stopped speaking.

"Oh, and Sam?" The other man glanced back, "Leah is my Beta. Remember that." If the fact angered him, he didn't show it- just wiped his face again, and took off at a run.

Jacob turned to Quil and Sue, sighing.

"What do you need me to do?"

* * *

Rachel had known as soon as Leah screeched into the parking lot that something was wrong. She'd been walking home, slowly, and it had been less than a half hour since she'd last seen the female wolf. In that second, from the look on Leah's face, she knew something terrible had happened. Her mind, not the most selfless of places, immediately started to chant, _Not Paul Not Paul Not Paul_, so it was to a sense of relief that she heard that her father had died, followed by overwhelming horror and grief. Today, officially, topped the poll as worse than the day her mother died.

"Come on Rachel, I'll bring you to Sam's house- Paul should be there by now, and he'll look after you." She let herself be bundled into the car, curling up on the passenger seat and belting herself in.

"I need to call Becks. Can we stop and get my cell from the house? I need to call her." Leah agreed, turning off for the Black house and following Rachel inside. The house felt empty; hollow. Leah thought it was probably her imagination, but it didn't stop the feeling. Rachel grabbed her phone from the kitchen and dialled her sister's number from memory, as Leah lingered at the doorway, unsure of what to do or say. When her father had died, she'd been kept away from people because of the uncontrollable wolf-rage. She didn't know how to deal with Rachel now and, irrationally, she wished Jacob were there. But he wasn't, so she lingered and listened to Rachel's end of a heartbreaking conversation. The elder Black twin didn't cry, but Leah could hear Becca break down. Her husband, a man Leah had met once, at the wedding, was talking in the background, asking what the matter was. Becca couldn't tell him; couldn't talk, and then Rachel broke, loud, racking sobs hiding the sound of Ben, demanding to know what was happening. Leah leaned forward, plucked the phone for Rachel's limp hand, and picked up where she'd left off.

"Ben? Is that you? This is Leah Clearwater, I'm here with Rachel."

"Leah? Yeah, it's Ben. What the hell is happening? Becks is on the floor here, in pieces! She can't even talk." He sounded frustrated, but beneath that was concern.

"Billy Black had a heart attack about an hour ago. He died, Ben. Becca needs to come home." She could hear his swift intake of breath, and hear him drop to his knees beside his wife and pull her close to him.

"Sure Leah. We'll be on the next flight out. Do you have a cell number that I can call with details?" She gave him Rachel's number, resolving that should get her own sometime.

"I'll see you soon Ben. Take care of Becca for us, please." And she hung up, dropping down to her knees to grab hold of Rachel's hands.

"Come on Rach. I need to take you to Sam's, okay? Paul will be there." She wasn't sure if the girl just had no fight left in her, or if the mention of Paul was enough of a motivator to make her move, but she led her back to the car and strapped her into the passenger seat without resistance. The trip to Sam's was only minutes, but Leah felt it stretch to miles. She could see the Packs, spread out across Sam's front yard, various degrees of tension stretched on their faces. Sam, Jared and Paul weren't there yet- but everyone else was present, from both packs. Brady and Seth, unusually, were faced off against each other, shouting at each other. She was too far away to hear the words, but she was pretty sure they weren't far from phasing and making the fight physical. It was strange- definitely strange.

She saw it happen- saw the two boys phase in the yard, growling and snarling at each other. Unconsciously, she put her foot on the accelerator. There were no other dominants in the yard- no Paul; no Jared; no Sam. She needed to be there, ASAP- every bone in her body was singing out to be there to take charge. It was an odd sensation. Very odd.

Seth, across the yard, was angrier than he had been since the night his father died, and he phased for the first time. Brady was goading him- telling him that Jacob was dead and that he had to accept it and he could just feel the anger building and building and he couldn't stop himself and he phased.

And then… Brady was there, in his head. And the anger was gone, because if Brady was in his head then… Jacob must be dead. In wolf-form, he sank to the ground, surprised to see Brady sink down next to him. The younger boy hadn't been serious- he hadn't really believed that Jake was dead but now… now, Seth could feel the guilt pouring off the other boy, and the grief that he was feeling spilled out, reaching Jared and Paul, running toward Sam's. They were talking; saying something, but he couldn't hear them; didn't understand.

And then… Leah was there, in front of him. Telling him to phase out and stop being a pussy. That snapped him back, for long enough that he could phase. Embry and Quil were on either side of him, listening to him babble about how Jacob must be dead because he could hear Brady and he was crying and heaving and he thought he'd be sick.

And his sister smacked him.

"Seth. Grow a pair, and listen to me. Jacob is not dead. I swear." He met her gaze, took a deep breath, and collapsed back onto the ground. "Now, put some pants on. Billy Black died about an hour ago and Rachel's in a heap."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight, and my Stephanie Meyer impression is passable at best.

This is the last chapter- barring an epilogue. Enjoy, and big thank you's to everyone who has reviewed. I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I have writing it.

* * *

When Sam (finally) got home, with Paul at his heel like a puppy, Leah wasn't surprised with the message he shared. She could feel it, in her bones; in her blood. They were all her boys, now. Again. But different, this time. The vein of tension that had been there before was gone, and it was only when it was gone that she realised it had been there at all. Sam was calmer, more relaxed than she'd seen him since before he changed, and seeing him walk straight into Emily's embrace and whisper into her ear that he wasn't Alpha anymore didn't hurt at all. In fact, were anyone watching, they might have seen a tiny smile grace her lips as she watched the display of affection between her ex and her cousin. But, interestingly, they weren't watching. None of them were meeting her gaze- not even Seth. They wouldn't look at her, at all; eyes dropped to the ground as soon as she looked at any of them. It almost made her laugh; it was so out of character. Better still, she was pretty sure that none of them even realised.

And Sam left his wife's side and came to her, speaking to her feet, and telling her everything that Jacob had related to him. There was a thread of anger in his tone, but she could live with that. When she spoke to _him_, her voice was all calm kindness, with none of her usual vitriol. She couldn't explain it- she just felt differently about him. That morning, if anyone had suggested she would see Sam the same way she saw Colin, or Quil, she would have laughed and denied it- but it was there, now. The anger was gone. The hurt was gone. The feeling of betrayal was just _gone_.

As if it had never been. He padded away from her, back to his imprint, and it struck her like a lightening bolt- the anger; the hatred that lingered for so long against Sam had disappeared the moment Jake had taken his place as Alpha over both packs. Her eyes widened, struck by the thought that all of her disgust and pain was based on the _Alpha_ thing, and not the _Cheating Bastard_ thing.

After reassuring them all, once more, that Jacob wasn't dead, she took off- running as wolf back to the meeting centre, just as he'd asked. She'd wonder, some other time, when she'd become so easy to order around. It didn't matter, because her heart still warmed at the thought of being closer to Jacob. Even though she knew he was reeling from the fact that his dad had just died and his imprint was fake. Her love-struck brain just admired his strength.

She phased in the woods and re-dressed in her ratty tee and shorts- looking very much the worse for wear from several dips in the ocean and a quick sprint through the woods. There was nobody watching, so it was easy to sneak in the back door and head straight for the main meeting room.

Surprisingly, Jake was there alone. She had been expecting her mother and Old Quil, but her Alpha sat alone, slouched on the table like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She closed the door firmly behind her, and took a few steps toward him, but he didn't even look up. He must have heard her.

"Jake?" She was horrified to hear tears in her voice, and she forced a deep breath to calm herself. Now was not the time for a meltdown, however spectacular it would have proven. He didn't look up, not even when she stepped in front of him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Jake, look at me." Her control had increased and she was absurdly proud that her voice had strengthened. He didn't look up, but she heard a hitch in his breath.

She stood there, awkwardly, for what felt like hours. She was just staring at the top of his head, her palm flat on his shoulder and her other hand loose at her side. She could feel him shaking, under her hand, but couldn't tell if he was about to phase or cry. She could handle phasing- she wasn't sure about tears. Eventually, she began to feel really uncomfortable, just standing there, and she began to retract her hand, stepping back from him.

She hadn't been expecting him to move, so it was a surprise when he reached out, pulling her in close to him in fierce hug.

"Stay." His voice was thick with tears, even from where his head was buried, flat to her stomach. She could feel his breath, warm on her skin where her tee shirt rode up. Her other hand moved, of it's own accord, to grip the back of his head, fisting in his hair, holding him close to her. His other hand gripped her hip and the heat burned through her shorts and set her skin on fire.

"I'm not going anywhere." She promised, daring to lift their joined hands and place a tiny kiss on the back of his; just the briefest touch of lips on skin.

He took a deep breath, breathing her in, and then he started to cry.

They could have been there for hours, and she wouldn't have known. She closed her eyes, dropped her chin to meet her chest, and just stood there, letting him sob into her stomach, making almost no sound at all. She was the only wolf there, but she was still willing to bet that he was restraining himself for the sake of the pack. He'd taken control somehow- Sam hadn't said- and now his father was dead, too, so by rights he was chief. He couldn't afford to let his weakness show- she knew that. Somewhere, she _felt _that. She could only hold him tighter; let him hold her; get whatever comfort he could from the knowledge that she was there. His sobs died off, eventually, and he seemed to have cried himself out. But he hadn't released her- he gripped her hand almost fiercely and the hand on her hip pulled her closer as he shifted his legs to allow her closer, almost to the table. He was slouched, his long legs stretched out on either side of her.

Later, much later, in the darkness of her bedroom and the privacy of her own brain, she let it go further than it did, then.

When he kissed her skin, she thought she'd melt. The change in the air from grief to a completely different kind of tension was so sudden it weakened her knees and only his grip held her up, as he ran his tongue across the expanse of skin between her tee shirt and her shorts. She couldn't hold back her moan as his hand travelled up the back of her shirt, touching her lightly and setting her on fire. She arched her back into him, flinging her head back and her hips forward as he nipped her with blunt, human, teeth. When his hand reached her neck, he tangled his fingers in her hair, kissing her on the stomach one last time before pulling her head down to meet his as he straightened up. His lips crashed onto hers, pulling her tongue into his mouth- she could taste herself; her sweat, on his lips and he tugged her forward, flush against him as she fought to regain some control of her brain. Her own hands were everywhere, touching as much of him as she could- under his shirt; in his hair; grabbing his shoulders, his ass. He kissed her fiercely, even as his hands found their way under the back of her tee, running over her super-heated skin and pulling her closer. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, and he was hard against her thigh and it was everything she'd dreamed that kissing him would be… except for the lingering scent of tears. It was that; the salty smell of grief, that made her pull back, growling out harsh words

"No, Jake", even as her body was crying out for _more._

He stopped, immediately- stopped touching her, stopped kissing her; stopped his hand where it was fisted in her shirt.

"I'm sorry, Leah. I'm so sorry. I should never have done that; it was- I don't- I'm not- I'm so sorry."

He pushed away from her, across the room with his back turned to her, his shoulders tense.

"Jacob, look at me." She didn't have an Alpha command in her tone, but he spun to look at her as if she had, his face by halves miserable and mortified. She could smell his arousal- hell, she could smell her own- so she knew she wasn't imagining it. She couldn't have been. "We're not doing this now- not when your dad has just died, and you need a distraction. I will not be your distraction, got it?" He blinked, confused, and she stepped forward into his personal space again, taking his face between her hands. "You never have to apologize for kissing me. Never. But we're not starting this now, okay? There's just too much going on, and it wouldn't be right." The confusion melted from his face into a look that was mostly gratitude, but at least partially awe and lust. She kissed him, gently, once more before stepping away and physically shaking herself to ensure she wouldn't go further. He was grieving, so she needed to be the grown up, the responsible one. It was probably the most difficult thing she'd ever done, passing up the one thing she wanted most in the world. But the look in his eyes when he stared at her- red rimmed from tears, but promising her the world on a plate and a lifetime of naughtiness, was worth it.

He nodded, once, before reaching out and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Okay, Lee. You're right." His fingers brushed her cheek, "As usual."

She half-laughed, closing her eyes and pushing her cheek against his palm, wolf-like.

"It's about time you realized that, Black."

"I need to go to the Cullen's, before going to see the Pack." Her eyes shot open and his hand receded, slowly. "Your mom and Old Quil are going to get things started for the ceremony, and I have to call by the hospital and formally identify the body, but I think I could do that on the way back from Leech Central." Her heart clenched at the thought- could, or would, Nessie do that to her again? Would Jake even _remember_ that the imprint was a fake if she forced it on him again?

But she couldn't say it; couldn't protest. Something stopped her- some tiny attempt to retain her dignity, in the event of losing him to the half-vampire. _Again_.

"Okay, yeah. Good plan. I'll head back to Sam's and wait for you there? Rachel called Becca- Ben said he'd have her on the next flight over and she'll call back with details later." He blinked, looking confused again.

"You're not coming with me?" Jesus, she was turning into a girl- her heart stopped, again, with his words.

"Do you want me there?" She hoped he didn't hear the tremble in her voice.

"There's no-one I'd rather have with me." She couldn't hear any trembles in his. "You're my Beta, Lee. You're my friend. You're the only one that I can trust to tell me if she does it again, and you're the only one that will remember that I don't want her to." She was his Beta? His friend? Her stopped heart plummeted. Beta. Friend. Okay. He must have seen something; some reflection of her feelings cross her face, because before she knew what was happening, he had her pushed against the table, her legs forced apart and wrapped around his waist as he rubbed against her, his lips caressing hers, possessive. He was growling, his chest vibrating against hers, as he held her to him, one hand on her ass and one in her hair. "You're the only one I _want_, Leah Clearwater. If it wasn't for a certain, unnamed, half-vampire, I'd have taken you for my own a long time ago." The feminist in her didn't like that. Unfortunately, the feminist in her appeared to have taken a holiday, and left behind a woman who _really, really, _liked that idea. He was growling in her ear, whispering dirty promises of things he wanted to do with her and her own growl rose in her throat, and her reasons for _not_ starting this now began to fade under the onslaught. And then he moved away from her, breathing hard and visibly shaking. She was shaking too, held up by her precarious balancing on the table.

"So. What are we going to tell the Leeches, then?" Her voice was remarkably steady; considering she wasn't sure she could stand. Jacob's answering smile was feral, wild, and just a little scary.

* * *

The wolves, in human form, strolled casually through the patio doors. Jacob, with Leah on his left, just a pace behind him. To the room full of vampires, it was as if the wilderness had suddenly encroached on their perfect civilization- the air smelled wild and untamed, and every one of them could see the difference between the boy who'd run away, earlier, and the man who had returned, now. Was this what Nessie had been keeping at bay? What her powers had pushed down? This Fierceness that even Jasper was wary of- Jasper, who had killed more people and more vampires than the rest of his coven all together.

Jacob pinned Bella with a stare, ignoring the rest.

"I need to speak with Ness." Edward glanced, worriedly, between the wolf and his wife. He couldn't pick anything up from either of the wolves- their minds were worrying blank; focused on something he couldn't understand. Bella nodded, slowly, and made her way up the stairs to retrieve her child. While she was gone, and they could hear her waking the girl, the two wolves moved further into the room, away from the door. Surrounding themselves with their historic enemy in what could only have been a show of bravado. And Jasper would have believed it bravado, except… except for the feeling he got from them that they were fully determined and capable of doing exactly what needed to be done. He couldn't know what that was, exactly, but it was enough for him to reposition himself between the wolves and Alice. Leah noticed his movement, and was amused. He didn't find that particularly reassuring. She smiled at him, her teeth bared, wolf-like. Edward, if possible, paled, and all Jasper could sense from him was dread.

Bella took her time with Nessie, giving the girl a chance to wake up properly, explaining that Jacob had come to see her. The girl had been excited, exclaiming that she'd 'get the chance to fix it', but her excitement died once she saw his face. She'd never been afraid of him- never seen a reason to. But the stony expression on his face when she tottered into the living room stopped her in her tracks. Bella was standing behind her, her hands on the child's shoulders.

Jacob took two steps forward, surprising the vampires, and dropped to his knees in front of the girl, meeting her gaze steadily. She was just outside his arms reach, and that was all that stopped Edward from grabbing him- that, and Leah's voice in his head promising that any hand that touched her Alpha was forfeit. He missed the possessive note in her voice, but it was something he would recollect later.

"Do you know what you did, Renesmee?" She gulped. Her Jacob never called her Renesmee.

"Yes, Jacob." She couldn't meet his eyes- she didn't want to see him be angry with her.

"I'm not mad, Ness. I promise." Hope sparked in her heart- he wasn't mad? So she _could_ still fix it! And she looked up, gazing deep into his eyes and reaching out to pull him back into her heart like she had done the first time. But… there was a barrier, now. She couldn't reach him. Her eyes filled with tears, even as the anger she had feared built in his.

"Don't try that again Nessie."

"But, my Jacob- how can I fix it if you won't let me?" She wailed, suddenly looking closer to hear real age than her appearance. Jake leaned in closer to her, crouching down to be on eye-level with her.

"Nessie, I will say this to you once, okay? I know you're smart, so you'll understand." He risked a quick glance at Bella, but her face was unreadable. "I am not your Jacob. I am your friend. But I am not _yours_. You cannot own people; you cannot expect them to be happy belonging to you. And if you ever, _ever,_ do what you did to me to anyone else, I will hunt you down, I will rip off your head and I will burn your body to ash. Do you understand?"

He didn't move- stayed firm in place, his eyes locked on Nessie's- but Edward leapt forward, hands outstretched to wrench him away from his daughter. He never even got close- as he was moving, so was Leah, catching him around the neck and flinging his body backward, out the open patio door where he crashed with an audible thump. He got back up, but he didn't move forward again.

_You get one chance, Leech. That's all. I won't warn you again. _

Her back was to Jacob, defending him from the rest of the Leeches. Bella, she hoped, would never hurt Jacob.

"Yes, Jacob. I understand." The girl's voice was tiny, filled with tears, and sounded just as her mother had when she was human.

"Good girl, Ness. Now, give me a hug." His demeanour changed, relaxed from scary and threatening to the Jacob she had known her whole life, and she threw herself into his arms, relieved. He stood up, lifting her with him and holding her close as she sobbed into his shoulder, whispering apologies.

"As far as the Pack will be concerned, the imprint broke this afternoon with the death of Billy Black and Jacob's entitlement to a position on the council. His ties to La Push and to his people are just too strong, and nothing can be done to repair the broken imprint." Leah told the lie, clear and loud, meeting the gaze of each vampire steadily. Bella, she noted, was ashen; devastated. She had forgotten that Bella had known Billy well. "Alice foresaw Nessie's future because Billy was fated to die, and the imprint bound to break as a result. And not because his heart couldn't handle the supposed death of his child because a bunch of Leeches don't know how to communicate with one another, even though one is a mind reader and another psychic."

She couldn't help but add the barb, letting them know that, regardless of what Jake might say, _she_ held them all responsible for the man's death. "Bella, you'll be welcome to come to the funeral and bring Ness with you. The rest of you… if you set a single foot across the border, that foot is forfeit, as is anything that it's attached to." Jacob met her gaze last and he attempted a grin, trying to conceal the gaping hole in his emotions where his father's death had left him empty. Jasper fell to his knees when it hit him, and he couldn't fathom having missed it all along. The void was… frightening. He wasn't used to the grief from humans- they were so different to vampires, and this was so _fresh._ Alice dropped next to him, supporting him and keeping him upright.

"I have to go Ness. My sisters need me, now, because my Dad died. I'll see you soon, okay?" She hugged him tightly, but didn't object when he placed her firmly back on the ground. Wordlessly, he turned and left, pushing past Edward at the door. Leah followed, just a step behind, guarding his back.

"Well. That went better than expected." Emmett's words drifted on the wind, and her laugh was wolfish, as she phased and ran home. They'd have to be careful with their thoughts, but Jacob had thought ahead- focusing his attention on his father, his grief spilled up, hiding their lies with its intensity. From the Cullen's back yard, she could hear the pack howl their grief to the sky and she couldn't help it- she tilted her head back, crying with them.

Home, to bury their dead and mourn.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A/N: I really hadn't intended to bring this any further than the last chapter- but somehow, this one crept past me. So, I've changed the status back to incomplete, and we'll see where it takes us from here.

* * *

Leah was biting her already-short nails, nervous. She couldn't help glancing at the clock on the wall every few seconds, watching as the hands slowly moved toward seven o'clock. It was early morning, she hadn't slept, and she wasn't looking forward to this. Jake had sent her to the airport, asking her to collect his sister and her husband and to bring her home safely. He was worried about Becca, and Rachel was in no fit state to travel to Seattle and collect her twin- and Paul was practically tied to Rachel, so that ruled him out, too. He didn't trust Sam not to lash out if he wasn't there personally, so that left Leah to go collect them. She grimaced- collect them on one of the worst days of Becca's life, and then try to protect the girl from half of the res, just in case one of the boys was idiot enough to imprint on the married woman. She had a long-standing bet with Jared that Embry would imprint on the second Black twin. Closing her eyes, she offered a quick prayer to Taha Aki- the drama that imprinting would add to this whole situation was something she couldn't handle. Not without inflicting serious damage to someone anyway and as her Sam-hate had evaporated, more or less, she was in dire need of a new target. Was it wrong of her to hope that Becca's husband was a douche? Just so she could take it out on him.

A glance at the clock confirmed that, no, it wasn't time for the plane to land yet. She confirmed this with a glance at the arrivals board, which showed nothing. They'd been travelling since the previous afternoon- from the tiny airport in Hana, near where Ben's family lived, they'd caught a flight to Honolulu and from there to San Diego, and San Diego to Seattle. Once, back when Becca had been her friend, Leah had known that the other woman hated flying. Now, with worry for her Pack and her people nagging at her, it was all Leah could do to remember that they'd ever been friends at all. It had been years- four, maybe five- since Rebecca Black had been home, and the same length of time since she'd bothered to contact Leah. The she-wolf supposed she should excuse it- Rebecca had gotten married and travelled the surf circuit with her new husband and generally forgotten all about her life in La Push. But since Leah was neither forgetful nor forgiving, she felt kinda justified in holding on to this particular anger. When _her_ father had died, at least she knew that she'd loved him as best she could and that he had loved her, and she'd _known _him. And however annoying Seth was, Leah knew where he was; who his friends were; what he was doing and what he dreamed of doing. They were tight; always had been. Becca had given that up, it seemed to Leah. Rachel too, but she was engaged to Paul and that was punishment enough for past transgressions.

No. What angered Leah was knowing that Rebecca Black wouldn't have even thought of coming home if Billy hadn't died. And that made her feel vaguely ill. So she really didn't think she could handle it if one of the boys imprinted on the selfish bitch. And she would have to be the angry one, because she also knew that Jacob and Rachel would welcome their sister home with open arms. She didn't bother glancing at the board, instead she stood and joined the queue at the coffee kiosk for her third double espresso in an hour and another Danish. She'd had breakfast at three am with Jake and he'd walked her to the car in the dark, early morning. He'd brushed her hair from her eyes and pressed a kiss to her forehead and opened the car door for her. Just remembering him; how he'd stood there and how he'd stared at her- how he'd watched over her as she slept before that. Well. It was enough to make her love him a little more each time she thought of it. She couldn't help making a face at the thought- it wasn't possible, at this point, to love him _more_. The cashier looked at her oddly and Leah attempted a grin, trying to remould her features so she didn't look actively crazy. Of course, it was the same guy she'd ordered from twenty minutes before, and on her third double espresso he probably already thought she was nuts. She swallowed the Danish in three bites and downed her coffee, scalding her tongue in the process. It healed in the time it took her to cross back to the waiting area and sit back down in the same seat again, her body pointed toward the arrivals door. Their plane was an hour late- she'd planned to be halfway home by now. The screen showed no progress- still not landed. Sighing, she took her cell from her pocket, intending to text an update to her Alpha, not wanting to call in case he'd actually managed to sleep.

Her phone rang as she held it, flashing _Jake_ across the screen, and ruining her hope that he'd actually managed to sleep.

"Hey Jake." She kept her voice low, not wanting anyone around her to hear the affection in her tone.

"Leah. You got there okay?" The concern in his tone would have pissed her off on any other day.

"Yeah. Plane's delayed, so I'm stuck here waiting, but I got here fine." She paused, "Did you sleep?" He grunted- a no, she thought.

"You're the only one awake, aren't you?" She asked, and she could almost hear him smile down the phone.

"Yeah. They're all curled up like puppies on the floor in the living room, snoring. Even Rach."

Rachel and Paul had been sleeping on the couch when she'd left, but the rest had been awake- all of them, camped out around the Black house and yard, as if they were afraid that letting Jake out of their sight would lead to him dying again. Even though he hadn't even been hurt the first time.

"Take some pictures for me, yeah? I'd especially love it if you could get one of Embry and Quil, all curled up together. Proof that Quil's imprint is a smokescreen for their steamy love affair." She got what she wanted- he chuckled, albeit without much real mirth.

"I wish you were here, Leah." She almost didn't hear him, he was so quiet. "Everything is easier when you're here." Her heart simultaneously clenched and leapt- hurting because he was hurting, but delighted that he wanted her close.

"Yeah, well, you sent me away, Black. I'm the mature, trustworthy one, remember?" Definitely the mature one, anyway- despite herself, it seemed.

He was quiet, and she was content to listen to him breathing. Jeez. Barely a day away from his imprint and she was already a giant girlie puddle for him.

"Try get some sleep Jake. You can't change anything by being exhausted." She could hear the snoring in the background that meant the boys were, really, all asleep on his floor.

"I don't want to, Lee. If I sleep, then I can't pretend that this isn't a nightmare I can just wake up from. If I go to sleep…" He pulled himself short before his voice cracked. Asleep or not, he was refusing to show weakness in front of his Pack.

"I get it Jake, I do." She remembered that feeling all too clearly. "When I get home, you can sleep. I'll watch over you, then." He sighed, gently.

"That sounds pretty good, Lee." It was her turn to sigh, her breath down the phone easing some of the tension across his shoulders.

"Call me when Becks lands, will you?" She agreed, and they sat in silence for a minute. "I think I'll go for a run, clear my head. I'll bring my cell with me- so… I'll talk to you soon, right?"

"Right. Go. Run. Leave the guys a note though, please?" The unspoken _we both know what happened the last time they couldn't find you_ fell in the silence of his whispered goodbye.

She was waiting another half-hour before Becca's plane finally landed, and twenty minutes after that for them to collect their bags and make it through arrivals. It was a shock to realise that Becca didn't even recognise her- the woman, every inch identical to Rachel right down to the red-rimmed eyes, stood next to her husband, clutching her bags and glancing from face to face, hoping for someone familiar. Leah glanced down at herself- she was dressed as she normally would be- jeans and a hoodie, trainers. Her hair was shorter, and she'd grown several inches. Her eyes, she knew, were harder, and her face leaner. She'd never really thought of what she looked to people who had known her, before. Apparently, different enough that a girl who'd known her since she was born could meet her gaze and not recognise her.

Still, the anonymity gave Leah the chance to observe the pair, for a minute. Ben was about Rachel's height, five foot eight or nine, broad shouldered and well-built under his sweater. In fact, he was kinda gorgeous; dark skin, dark hair, beautiful almond eyes. Leah couldn't help but grin. She'd be willing to bet that Ben was the kind of guy who was used to being the best-looking one; the most athletic and, from the way he wrapped a protective arm around Becca; the one in charge. He was going to get a massive surprise when he met _her_ boys- every one of them taller, more muscular more in control than he. Her brain, she thought, must be fried from all the caffeine and no-sleep.

"Becca?" She called, waving across the hall to her old friend.

"Leah?!" It was only when the other woman wrapped her arms around her that Leah remembered why it was so easy to forgive Rebecca anything- she'd missed her; she was her friend, and she was warm and kind and easygoing. Leah returned the hug with fervour, swearing to forget her nasty thoughts from earlier.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Becks."

"Thanks for coming for me, Lees." The separated and Rebecca made the, somewhat awkward, introductions. Leah shook Ben's hand, smiling grimly, and then grabbed two of their bags and turned toward the exit.

"Let's get going. I want to get ahead of the morning traffic." She slowed her pace so that they could match her, and led the way to Jake's car, parked haphazardly in the parking lot- zone B, space 265. She'd written the number on her hand, just in case. The rabbit looked dingy and old in comparison to the other cars around, but Rebecca recognised it. How, Leah wasn't sure- but maybe Jake had told her about it.

"Is this Jake's car? The one he rebuilt himself?" Her tone was somewhat indulgent, but Leah ignored it.

"Yeah, it is. He told me to take it to come get you. Didn't trust Pauls' pile of junk to make it all the way here and back." With good reason- it was ninety percent rust and ten percent duct tape. But it was the only other car he would have even considered, because he was the one who kept it running, too.

They sat into the car, Ben in the passenger seat next to her and Becca curled up in the back seat. Leah couldn't decide if it annoyed her or not that Ben hadn't offered Becks the front seat, but she eventually dismissed it as unimportant. They drove in silence for a few minutes before Leah remembered she'd promised to call Jake. She kept her eyes on the road and one hand on the wheel as she dug her cell from her pocket and flipped it open, speed dialling Jake. He was number two- after her home phone and before Seth's cell. He answered on the third ring, breathing hard so she knew he was still out running.

"Leah. You have them?"

"Yeah, we're on the way home now. Should be there around ten." She almost heard him nod.

"Cool. Thanks. I'll see you soon." He hung up, and she dropped her phone into the holder in the dashboard.

"You two should try get some sleep- we have a busy few days ahead of us." Rebecca met her eyes in the mirror, and nodded slowly, curling up more on the seat. Within minutes, she was asleep. Ben, propped on the seat next to her, wasn't even close.

"So, you live on the reservation, right?"

"All my life." She agreed, weaving though traffic at speed, and not noticing how his face paled when she didn't so much as glance in the mirrors.

"What do you do?" God, she sucked at polite conversation. Couldn't Becks wake up and talk about her dead dad? Dead dads, she could handle.

"Work part time; study part time." She attempted a smile. "How's the surf circuit going for you? Rachel tells me you're quite the success." He grinned, widely,

"Yeah, you could say that. I get by, you know- I get paid to do what I love, so I'm pretty lucky."

Silence for a minute.

"You didn't bring your board with you? We've got some pretty nice waves on First Beach."

Internally, she thought her brain was actually dying. Goddammit, Jacob. She glanced at her cell, willing it to ring. God, she'd even welcome a call from the Leeches. Maybe the psychic one would ring her if she concentrated hard enough.

"We had to take a tiny plane from home to Honolulu. It wouldn't fit in the cargo hold." Her face must have frozen in shock as she choked out a quiet,

"Oh? That's too bad." Seriously? Who even THINKS about surfing when they're getting ready to go to a funeral?! She forced her features back into a neutral expression, but she didn't think he'd noticed as he agreed with her.

"I'm sure someone will have a board you can borrow, if you stay long enough to want it. But I'm not sure about wetsuits- we don't use them." He'd notice that, straight away- they barely wore clothes, these days, never mind wetsuits in the water. She'd worn her clothes cliff diving, but that was more about convenience than consideration for the cold.

"When do you think the funeral will be? Becks wasn't sure how long we'd be staying." Leah shrugged, switching lanes on the freeway and taking her exit for Forks and home. About an hour's drive, still, but the sight made her glad. She pushed the rabbit as hard as she could- anything to get out of this car. Her bones ached; she needed to run, too. She'd spent too long trapped in this little car.

"I don't know, really. Probably tomorrow or the next day- Old Quil, an elder on our council, was to organise the rites and Jake said he'd probably be able to collect the body today, but he wasn't sure.

"Jake- that's Jacob, right? Becca's little brother? Why isn't Rachel doing that stuff? Isn't Jake a bit young?" She stifled a laugh- in fairness to the guy, he couldn't know that Jacob was far from a child, anymore.

"I wouldn't say anything like that to Jake if I were you, Ben. He wouldn't appreciate it." The guy looked confused and a little hurt, and she felt a surge of pity for him. It wasn't his fault Becca had run as far from home as she could, and that he didn't know his in-laws. "He's eighteen. He's a man, now, and the head of his family. It's his responsibility- he wouldn't have it any other way." Ben looked unconvinced, but she'd leave it to Jake to convince him. In fact, she was pretty sure that one glimpse of Jake would be enough to convince Ben. "Besides, Rachel's a mess right now. She'd gotten pretty close to Billy since she moved home again and this has hit her pretty hard." That was completely true.

There was silence, again, for another ten minutes.

"You're not how I imagined you." He said, after stealing several glances at her. Leah made a face, shooting a glare at him, quickly.

"How did you imagine me, exactly?" He smiled, just a little.

"Different. When Becks talks about you, she describes you as fun and energetic and wild, but hugely kind and… mushy, almost." His grin was crooked, she noticed. "I'm having trouble seeing that." Leah almost, _almost_, braked and phased. She avoided it by the narrowest of margins, but the stupid grin on Ben's face would have to go.

"I'm sorry if I've changed from the person your wife knew four years ago. But you know, that happens when people grow up. And it happens more quickly when you're grieving." She glared at him again, her lip curling in a sneer. "Douche." His face fell; he clearly hadn't intended anything _bad_ in his comment, and hadn't expected hostility in return.

"I'm sorry, Leah- I didn't mean to offend you, I swear. It's just… Becks rarely talks of her family, but when she does, it's through rose-tinted glasses. It's interesting to finally meet you and see you for real."

Okay, maybe she was harsh with the douche comment.

"Well, maybe you should have made more of an effort to meet us _before_ her dad died." She kept her tone light, so he'd know she wasn't annoyed. "Jake and Rachel will be thrilled to see her, and you, but please, don't expect that from the rest of us."

He looked confused. Ah yes, Becca was unaware of her father's extended family. Well, Leah wasn't going to be the one to warn her hapless hubby. She was rather looking forward to the moment when Ben –big shot surfing superstar that he was- realised just how insignificant a part he played in the lives of his wife's family.

To her eternal gratitude, he lay his head back on the headrest and pretended to sleep the rest of the way home.

Rachel was the only one at the house when they arrived back, much to Leah's dismay. Becca had woken as they turned onto the Res, and she'd been pointing out childhood haunts to Ben as they drove the last few miles. Becks leapt from the car to embrace her sister; the twins both bursting into more tears as Ben and Leah grabbed their bags and then Leah parked the car in the garage. She met them in the living room, dropping Jake's keys back on the sideboard. The living room showed little evidence of the dozen wolves who'd slept there the previous night. Thankfully.

"You guys are going to have to take Jake's bedroom" Leah's heart sank- she'd hoped to get Jake to sleep sometime soon, "so you can just leave your stuff in there."

"Where is Jake? I'd really like to see him." Rachel gave her sister an amused glare,

"You can hardly stand, Becks. Get some rest first- he cleared out and took the guys with him so that you'd have a chance to get your bearings." She dragged her sister into Jake's room which, Leah noted from the doorway, had definitely been cleaned. And probably not by Jacob, seeing as it actually looked clean and the sheets had been changed and the bed made properly.

"I feel bad about taking Jacob's room- he's just a boy, he needs his own space. We can get a room in town, leave him to his room." Rachel, to her credit, just blinked and didn't laugh outright.

"Nonsense, Ben. He offered."

"But where's he going to sleep? Not in Dad's room, surely?" Becca sounded faintly disgusted. Rachel grimaced, pulling the blinds to darken the room.

"Get some sleep Becks. You can worry about Jake later."

The elder Black twin shut the bedroom door behind her, firmly, and turned to face her brother's Beta.

"Tea?" Leah offered, and Rachel's smile was thankful.

"Please."

They sat, drank tea and Rachel filled her in quietly on where Jake was and what was going on. He'd gone to see Old Quil, Quil and Sam with him- the rest were either patrolling or gone home to shower and change. They were meeting at three to go to the hospital and collect the body. Old Quil had arranged the meeting hall for the wake, and that's where Jake was now, meeting him. Sue and Charlie were, apparently, organising the burial while Old Quil organised the ceremony.

"I have to go find him, Rach. He needs to get some sleep." Leah glanced at the clock- just after 10.30. Rachel nodded, agreeing.

"You can bring him here- he can have my room?" Leah couldn't help but laugh.

"No way Rach- he'd never sleep in there, surrounded by Paul's scent. I'll bring him to my place, and make sure he's back here for three. Will you be okay, here on your own?"

"Paul will be home soon. He wanted to be here to meet Becks, but they've all been sticking pretty close to Jake. Some pack thing, I suppose?" Leah nodded, glad that at least one of the Black girls understood how things were.

"I'll see you at three, Rach. Call me if you need me."

She took the car again, for simplicity's sake. It had nothing to do with how it smelled like Jake, and how she liked how she smelled when she got out of it. No siree.

She found him, circled by the pack in the meeting centre, talking details with Quil snr. The rest of the boys were standing in a loose circle around him, seemingly unaware that they were even doing it- protecting him. From what, she wasn't sure. He'd known the second she entered the room that she was there- she could tell by the fraction of an inch that his body turned in her direction. She ducked through a gap between Jared and Embry and made her way to his side, resting her hand gently on his arm. He barely glanced at her, which hurt a little. She bit back a wince, and looked over the lists on the table in front of her. Old Quil, ever the gentleman, offered her his seat, but she declined.

Instead, she turned to examine the rest of the pack. Rachel had said they'd gone home, or gone patrolling. Clearly, they hadn't. Her hand on his arm had told her that Jake was too tense to deal with them- he was too tense to let them leave, despite his words, so they'd followed, drawn by their Alpha's pain to protect him, whatever way they could.

"Paul, go home- Rachel needs you." She tossed him the keys to the Rabbit. "Be careful what you say in the house- Becca and Ben are sleeping in Jake's room." She paused, biting her lip,

"Ben's a douche, by the way. You're now my favourite of Jake's brothers-in-law." Paul grinned, waved the keys at her, and left- touching his hand to his Alpha's shoulder as he left, and muttering a quiet "Call me if you need me." She wasn't sure which of them it was aimed at. She wasn't sure it mattered.

"Jared, Sam, Embry, Quil- I need you guys to run the perimeters. We can't afford to lose focus and let something slip through, okay? Go now, make sure everything is kosher and meet back here for three." They accepted her orders without protest, each touching Jacob before they left the room. That left the younger boys- Seth, Brady, Colin and the newest shifters- Michael, Tony and Tim, who were all barely fourteen. They'd all phased when the Volturi had come to town- the tension of that time calling in backup in the form of children who had no concept of danger.

"You guys need to go home, get some rest. Seth, stay with me. Brady, Colin- make sure these three actually go home, okay?" They all nodded, touching base with Jacob before leaving quietly.

When the rest were gone and it was only the four of them in the room, Jacob's shoulders sagged a little, and he reached out to grab her hand.

"I swear to god and all that is holy, those guys are going to be the death of me." He growled out.

"Are you done here?" She directed the question at Quil, and the elder man nodded.

"We have done what we needed to do. Take him home, make him rest." He was sharp, for an old guy. She nodded.

"That's the general idea. Seth? Could you run home and make sure there's no-one there? Jake and I will follow you." By _no-one_, she meant her mother and Chief Swan. Seth would know that. They were Billy's best friends, and they would want to do right by his son. But Leah knew her Alpha, and their fussing was the last thing he needed. Quil nodded his approval, and Leah slipped her arm around Jake's waist and led him home.

Their progress wasn't slow, but it was still almost eleven thirty by the time they reached the house. Seth was asleep in his room when they got there, and Leah could tell that her mother had just recently left. She couldn't be sure if Charlie had been with her, but they weren't there now, which she appreciated. She wondered, briefly, if Seth had sent them to check on the twins and she chuckled. Jake hadn't said a word since the meeting centre- he'd been happy to have to pressed to his side, letting her guide him to her home, but he hadn't said a word to her. Now, inside, he made a beeline for the couch but she caught his wrist.

"No. Follow me." And she led him upstairs to her bedroom, pushed him onto the bed and he was asleep in seconds, his head cushioned on her stomach and his arms wrapped around her waist.

Leah, for all her exhaustion, didn't sleep. She promised him she would watch over him- much as she suspected he had done the night before, for her- so watch she did, one hand tracing patterns on his back and the other clasping his hand in hers. In sleep, she could see what Ben had meant earlier, about Jacob being young; being eighteen. In sleep, he began to resemble that again. She didn't let herself dwell on it- the idea of being crazy about someone only a year older than her kid brother? Icky, if she let herself think about it.

The hours passed; she didn't even notice when her leg cramped, trapped beneath the giant lying on top of her. She let him sleep as long as possible, but finally woke him at two o'clock, shaking him gently until he roused. His eyes were bleary, and his hair messed up from where she'd been playing with it.

"Lee? What time is it?" He glanced up at her, and she told him. They had an hour before they had to meet back at the meeting centre. His face fell as he remembered why and she cursed internally. He had rested. That would have to be enough for now. Seth heard them talking and stumbled out of his own bedroom, his eyebrows raising in question when he saw them, tucked away in Leah's bed. Although, her door was open onto the hallway, so it's not as if they were really hiding.

"You guys hungry?" He asked, choosing to ignore their intimate position. Leah was his sister; Jake was his Alpha and his best friend. Whatever they chose to be to one another was their own business. Plus, if they actually got together, then Jake would be his brother, _properly_, and Seth would have an ally against his crazy sister. Maybe.

"Why, what are you making?" Leah asked, her stomach growling loudly. She hadn't eaten since her Danish at seven am.

"Cereal?" Seth offered. "Maybe toast?" That was about the extent of any of their cooking ability, so Leah wasn't going to complain.

"Come on Jake, let's get something to eat and then we'll head over to your place. Becca's looking forward to seeing you." Seth plodded down the stairs and she could hear him, setting out bowls and searching for clean cutlery. Jacob, instead of moving, tightened his grip on her waist and buried his nose in her shirt.

"I wish I could just stay here, Lee. It feels okay here. It doesn't hurt so much, here." She slid down on the bed, sliding through his arms until she could look him in the eye.

"I wish you could too, Jake. More than anything." The intensity of his gaze grabbed her; her breath catching in her throat. Her eyes wandered to his lips, and unconsciously she licked her own. He growled, quietly.

"You're not making this easier, you know that, right?" She smirked, pressed her lips to his very chastely, and slipped out of his arms and stood up.

"Come on. Let's get some food." Groaning, he stood, making his way into her personal space and wrapping her in his arms, forcing their bodies together.

"God, you smell good." He muttered, before letting her go and moving past her, down the stairs. Despite everything, despite the circumstances, she allowed herself a smile.

* * *

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far- you guys are great. :)


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own twilight.

Warning: Some naughtiness in this chapter. It's at the end, so skip it if it's not your thing. :)

* * *

About twenty minutes after Leah woke Jacob, Ben heard the pair come into the house. He was lying on the cramped single bed with Becca. His wife had curled up straight away and fallen right to sleep, but he had only dozed, unable to get comfortable in the tiny space between Becca and the wall. The room smelled like dog, too, which was getting up his nose and making him sneeze. He knew it wasn't fair to complain, but seriously? He was wondering how he could convince Becca to go to stay in a hotel with him. He couldn't spend his nights like this. Maybe he could sleep on the couch? The floor? Anywhere else.

He'd heard Rachel's fiancée arriving back hours before, and their low voices off and on since. He recognized Leah's voice when she greeted Rachel, and heard Paul greet Jacob by name so it was definitely them. Becca had asked him to wake her when her brother arrived home, so he was more than happy to shake her awake now, whispering in her ear that Jake was in the living room.

She came to slowly, her mind fuzzy. She'd slept soundly, surrounded by the scents and sounds of home- something she had missed over the years, more than she had realised. It was easier to accept that her dad was gone, lying here in her brother's bed, listening to the sounds of home and _not_ hearing him, wheeling himself around the house and cursing when he ran into things they'd left lying around. She gave Ben a kiss on the cheek, told him he could sleep more if he felt like it, and hopped out of the bed and out the door without even checking herself in the mirror- she'd be on a plane for half a day and had spent the last few hours curled in a ball in a single bed shared with her husband- of course she looked rough. She just couldn't bring herself to care enough to find out how rough, exactly.

The voices were in the kitchen, and she followed them, eager to see her little brother and to meet her sister's fiancée. What she saw surprised her- two giant Quileute men were taking up most of the kitchen, while Leah and Rachel sat at the table drinking tea and mock-fighting over the last cookie on the plate.

"Uh, hi." She was about to introduce herself, when she realized that the bigger of the two men- the one with a half-smile, who was staring at her from his position by the sink- looked kind of familiar. It was only when he took a step forward, reaching out and grabbing her in a bone crushing hug, that she realized that _this_ gigantic man was her little brother. Rachel had told her he'd grown, but come on! He had to be seven foot tall! She hadn't felt short in a long, long time- Ben was her height, and she'd gotten used to being as tall as the men around her, more or less. Jake was at least a foot taller than her; her head just meeting his shoulder. "It's good to see you, kiddo." He grumbled good naturedly about being called _kiddo_, but she brushed it off with a smile and introduced herself to Paul, giving him a hug and thanking him for looking after her sister. He blushed, which was cute.

The group fell into a slightly awkward silence after that. Jake pulled Becca to his side, looping his arm over her shoulder, and she marveled at how warm he was. She laid her head against his shoulder, and met her sister's gaze across the room. She'd have to pin Rachel down later and find out if Jake was taking drugs that made him turn into gigantor.

"Did you sleep any, Becks?" Leah asked, finally snagging the last cookie from Rachel, and then appeasing the other woman by breaking it in half.

"Yeah, I did. I'm not sure Ben did though- that bed is tiny." She glanced at her brother. "How you even fit in it anymore, I'll never understand." Jacob shrugged.

"Well, for one, Jake doesn't usually have company." Rachel teased. Her brother rolled his eyes, refusing to be embarrassed.

"Not all of us get married at my age, you know. It's actually normal to be single at eighteen." He retorted. None of them caught the half-glance at Leah, or her raised eyebrow back.

"What, you mean you haven't got a girlfriend? Are the girls on the res blind as well as retarded?" Becca questioned with a smile.

"Well, Lee? What do you think? Are all you girls blind and stupid?"

The woman blinked, once, and then smiled slowly. She looked him over, dragging her eyes from head to toe before leering playfully.

"Kinda, yeah." To her delight, he blushed and his sisters and Paul laughed.

The tension had eased though, and they fell into chat about Becca's flight and her life in Hawaii. She told them stories about the Pro surfing circuit, where she worked as an event organiser and occasional surf manager- despite not being able to surf herself. It was a full twenty minutes before Jake interrupted, saying that he had to go to the hospital to collect their dad, and that whoever wanted to come had better get ready, fast.

Becca and Rachel retreated to the bedrooms, and Paul disappeared to collect his car from Jared's. Jake stayed where he was, leaning against the sink, Leah's eyes on him.

"So. You think I'm hot, Lee?" He asked, his tone light. To her horror, she blushed furiously, answering his question with her humiliation. She shouldn't have been surprised- where the Black twins went, Leah was bound to be embarrassed or in trouble. Or both. She met his gaze though, and grinned.

"Hell yeah."

"Good." He laughed, "At least we're even." And then he was staring at her in that way that meant the rest of the world disappeared and she was struggling to breath, and all her blood rushed south and thank god Ben interrupted, or the Black sisters would have found her corrupting their little brother on the kitchen floor.

Ben, for his part, had been sent out to the kitchen while Becca changed, and told to make nice with her brother. Her brother, who she forgot to mention, was built like a house. He remembered Jacob as a skinny, shy fourteen year old. Time had definitely been kind to the kid and he understood, suddenly, what Leah had been warning him about. Jacob looked twenty-five and could have passed for thirty; for all that he was only eighteen. He felt like he was interrupting something, from the way they both turned to stare at him. In fact, he kind of felt like he was being scrutinized; stripped bare under their joint gaze.

"Uh, hey, Jacob, Leah." He held out his hand for Jacob to shake, which he did, and muttered that he was sorry for the man's loss.

"Thanks for coming, Ben. It means a lot to all of us that you're here." And suddenly, Ben relaxed- whatever assessment Jake had been making of him, he seemed to have passed.

"Thanks for giving up your room, man. It was cool of you. Where will you be sleeping though? I don't want to put you out- we can always go into town; find a room somewhere." The boy grinned.

"Beds pretty shit, isn't it?" Ben laughed. Was he that obvious? He nodded, abashed. "We have an inflatable mattress somewhere that's pretty comfortable. I'll find it for you tonight, and that should be better. I think Becks needs to be here, to be with Rachel, right now- or I'd be happy to find you somewhere else." Jacob was right, of course, but the promise of an air mattress was enough to keep Ben happy. "And don't worry about me- I have plenty of places I can crash. Leah's offered her couch, for one." The girl nodded, but something in her grin told Ben that it might not be her _couch_ that she was offering. He glanced between them, eyes narrowed.

"Are you guys…" He finished with an obscure wave of his hands, but it was pretty clear what he meant. They exchanged a glance, before looking back to him as one.

"Not yet." Jake answered, with a grin. He scored major points with Leah for not asking his brother-in-law to keep quiet, but Ben got the impression that she kind of wanted him to stay quiet, all the same.

"Ah, I see." He couldn't help but grin. Leah was intriguing, Jacob was kind of overwhelming, and together they seemed to mesh pretty well. He bit back a laugh, wondering what Becks would say- her oldest friend, taking advantage of her little brother. She'd probably be delighted, he realised.

"When are we leaving?" The abrupt change of subject was appreciated, and Jake told him five minutes.

"Do I have time to get something to eat? I haven't eaten since San Diego and I don't know about you guys, but when I don't eat I get grumpy." Leah laughed.

"There's always time for food. There's a casserole in the fridge- I'll heat you some. Sit down. Jake, you hungry?" He'd just eaten, but he was always hungry. Even so, he said no this time, although he did steal her seat and watch her get Ben's food ready. She helped herself to a bowl too, and then kicked Jake out of her chair and sat back down opposite Ben. Jake stepped outside, onto the back porch, leaving them to their food.

* * *

The sky was clouded, unsurprisingly, but it was bright and warm all the same. It had rained while he'd been sleeping, and the grass shone with it. He took a deep breath, tasting the sea on the air and the scent of his pack, approaching from all sides. He shook off a wave of annoyance- they'd been supposed to meet him at the meeting centre, after he got back from the hospital, but they were being so clingy that he wasn't surprised at all to sense them approaching. Jared and Paul, driving. Quil, Embry and Sam in wolf form, just approaching the tree line. Brady, Colin and the younger ones, walking up to the front door. And Seth, who was seated behind him on the porch, doing his best to be unnoticed.

"You really thought I was dead, didn't you?" That was the only reason he was tolerating their newfound desire to be near him- although, the need to touch him was freaking him out a bit, but he'd never show it. As a wolf, he knew it was important. Seth, behind him, nodded. Somehow, Jacob _felt_ that; the agreement, even though he couldn't see the gesture. "I'm really sorry, Seth. I should have come to find you, straight away." Quil and Embry might be his oldest friends, but Seth had been his closest friend for years, now. Since he joined the pack, almost. Leah, too, but that was different. It had always been different, even when he couldn't figure out why.

"Just don't die, Jake. It was… hard. Really, really hard. And not just cos you're my Alpha." He whispered the words, not wanting Ben to overhear him.

"I'll do my best, Seth. But I can't make any promises." It seemed to be enough for Seth, as the tension in his body relaxed a notch. "Besides, I think your sister would kill me if did." He glanced behind him, meeting his friend's eyes, "She might talk the talk, but I don't think she's cut out to be the Big Dog." Seth laughed. They both knew Leah could hear them through the door, and she was bound to be annoyed.

"I'm glad you're not dead, Jake. I'm glad the packs are reunited." His voice turned serious, "But I swear on all that's sacred- and yes, I mean my comic books- that if you mess my sister around, I will likely punch you. At least once- and I'll make sure it hurts, dammit!" Jacob grinned.

"I think we both know she'd kick my ass first, Seth." He met her gaze through the door. "We're not rushing into anything, kid. We're… kind of picking up where my imprint broke us off, only we know each other better, now. And I know, now, that I won't ever imprint again, so there's nothing stopping us. We can take our time; get this right."

"That's nice and all, but my threat still stands. If you hurt her, I will hurt you." Jacob could only grin. Seth would have been his second, or his third, maybe- but the boy was incapable of even thinking harm on someone. It was what Jake liked about him so much- reminded him of what he used to be like, before all the wolf stuff started and he changed so much. Seth kept him grounded; kept him from forgetting the way people were supposed to be.

The approaching pack added some tension to his body and his shoulders tightened. It was odd, but the more of them that were around, the more tense he felt physically and the more relieved he felt, emotionally. It was the opposite when they were gone- he worried about them, but didn't feel it physically. He supposed it was because the bonds were new, and stronger than they had ever been before. He knew that Sam, when he'd been Alpha, hadn't been able to sense the others nearly as well as he could, now. Sam used to have an _idea_ of where someone was, but Jake was pretty sure he could pinpoint them all, to their exact location, if he concentrated enough. He knew from what Leah had told him that she was feeling something similar, but not nearly as strongly.

In the second that the younger ones knocked on the front door, the others emerged from the woods and Paul parked the car outside. Jake wondered if the timing was an unconscious pack thing, that they'd all arrived together, or if it was just coincidence.

His imminent headache meant he dismissed it, for now, as irrelevant. He stayed where he was- the pack would come to him.

Inside, Leah listened to her brother and her Alpha with half her attention, and focused on what Ben was saying with the other half. He seemed more cheerful now she'd fed him, and she felt a tinge of guilt for not even considering that they might have been hungry, earlier. She shrugged it off- they were grown ups. If they'd wanted food, it was up to them to make that clear. She wasn't psychic. She heard Jake telling Seth that they were going to do things right, and her heart warmed. She really needed to get some control over herself when it came to that boy- she'd be useless forever if she didn't. God, she could be _Bella_ if she didn't. That thought alone was enough to shake her.

Ben was talking, but she'd stopped listening to him now, hearing instead the sounds of her Pack making their way toward the house.

"Sorry to interrupt Ben, but we have to get ready to go. The rest of the guys are on their way." As if on cue, the front door opened and Paul and Jared sauntered in, the pups trailing behind them. Ben blinked, taking in the sight of seven giant men trooping past him- each stopping to say hey to Leah, and to be introduced to Ben, but it was clear that their destination was the back porch, where Jacob was waiting with Seth. Once they'd trailed out, he turned back to Leah.

"What is in the water around here? These guys are all _huge._ Do you guys have some secret NFL training ground around here, or something?" Leah laughed, gathering up their dishes and dumping them in the sink.

"No, nothing like that. Just crazy genes, maybe? Anyway- Jake's the tallest, and they all kinda listen to him, so there won't be any trouble or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"Not really trouble, it's just... ah, I don't know what it is. An extreme feeling of outsider, I suppose." Leah suppressed a sigh.

"Well, Ben. You kinda are an outsider, so don't take it personally if they pretty much ignore you. They're boys- they're stupid." And she grinned at him, taking the bite out of her words.

He glanced out the window, to where Jake stood in the centre of the lawn, and three more massive Native guys approached him from the woods. They didn't shake his hand, or embrace him like you'd expect after a death, but they all reached out, one by one, and touched their hands to his shoulder.

To his surprise, he realised that the newcomers were barefoot, despite having just come from the woods. He said as much to Leah, and she shrugged, unconcerned.

"It's a Native thing, Ben, don't worry about it. Some of us are pretty big into reviving the old ways, you know? Well, the old ways plus video games and ice-cream."

The twins emerged together back to the kitchen, both dressed sedately in black dresses with low heeled shoes. Leah fought back a grin. They were clearly identical.

"Paul's going to have a cow. He's always said that he couldn't handle two of you, Rach." The elder twin smiled, glancing at her sister.

"I don't know Lee; don't all guys have hot twin fantasies?" Ben blushed, but Leah didn't know him well enough to tease him for it.

"How would I know? It's not as if I have any insight into the male brain." Unaccountably, Leah and Rachel burst into peals of laughter at that. Becca graced them with a confused glance, before shaking it off and moving closer to her husband, linking their hands together.

"Everyone's waiting outside. Let's go." Leah ushered them out to Becca's protests that they should lock up- Leah ignored that, muttering that anyone stupid enough to steal from them deserved everything that was coming to them. She emerged onto the porch last and the eyes that had been trained on Rebecca and Ben dropped, immediately. All but Jacob's- he met her gaze steadily.

"Are all of these guys coming with us?" Becca asked, disbelief evident in her voice. Leah raised an eyebrow to Jake in question, and he nodded once.

"Yeah, they are Becks. Your dad was pretty well liked, you know? And he was an elder- it's fitting." That should shut her up- Becks had never cared for the old traditions and legends. She wouldn't know Leah was lying.

The assembled boys split into groups, moving off into cars that seemed to have appeared from no-where. Seth, who shouldn't have been driving at all, had brought Sue Clearwater's car with him and he handed the keys to Leah. Sam took the rabbit, and with him, Brady, Quil and Jared. Paul drove his old truck, with Rachel, her sister and Ben with him. That left Leah with Seth and Jacob, and Embry took the pups. They were going straight to the hospital, and then on to the meeting centre directly.

She slid behind the wheel of her mother's car, and Jake sat into the passenger seat next to her. He breathed a sigh of relief as the other cars moved off, the tension easing.

"This crap better fade pretty quickly or I'm going to go crazy."

"Dude, you're getting it on with my lunatic sister. You're already crazy." Seth, master of inappropriate jokes. Leah choked back a laugh and Jake reddened.

"Bro, I can assure you- we are not 'getting it on'." Seth was silent, for a second.

"Then what the hell do you see in her?" Leah, who had been turning onto to the road, stopped the car to reach back and smack her brother soundly, across the head. Jacob's shoulders shuddered, but from laughter this time. It was so rare that Seth managed to get one over on Leah- it was so often the other way around- that he couldn't help but laugh, the last tension fading from his shoulders.

"Scut patrols for the next month, Seth. Every midnight patrol and every dawn patrol from here 'till your birthday, I swear." His sister wasn't too mad though- she hadn't phased, so Seth didn't take her seriously.

He stayed quiet for a while though, not interrupting as Jake went through the details for that evening, one last time. The pack tension had faded, allowing the grief space to creep back in, and by the time they reached the hospital, Leah was worried. He couldn't go postal in the hospital- too many witnesses.

They pulled up outside the mortuary, where an ambulance was waiting to transport the body. There would be no coffin- Billy was to be buried in the family crypt, in the old fashion, shrouded and wrapped, but no coffin. The rest of them were waiting, ringing the outside door like impatient puppies. Rachel, Rebecca, Paul and Ben were at the door, waiting for Jake. From where she stood, Leah could smell the sickly sweet scent of vampire that meant Carlisle Cullen was waiting for them. She was partly relieved at that- he'd be able to stop Jake if the boy went nuts. Jake, it seemed, had another way of stopping himself- pulling her close to his side, forcing her to rest her head on his shoulder as they walked forward, ignoring the shocked glances from the assembled wolves. And from Jacob's shocked sisters, who were openly staring. Rachel, to her credit, wondered if it was an Alpha/Beta thing, but Rebecca looked scandalized. Seth fell back, joining the rest of the pack, and Jake pushed open the door, stepping inside before his sisters and blatantly placing his body between the Vampire and the full-humans. Paul, Leah noted, didn't even growl- massive progress for the man with anger issues. She wondered, idly, if his anger problems had been resolved when the packs merged, too. Nothing like accidentally being loyal to the wrong Alpha to mess you around, she supposed.

"Carlisle." Jacob acknowledged, with a nod. The doctor stood with two paramedics- different ones to the men who'd brought his father to the hospital the previous day.

"I thought I'd come here personally, to offer my condolences." The sorrow on the Cold One's face was genuine. "I am truly, deeply sorry for your loss." It seemed Jacob believed him, too, because he nodded once more.

"You are Esme will be welcome to attend the funeral service, if you wish." Leah hadn't seen it coming, but she supposed it wasn't too unusual. Carlisle had, after all, always been good to the wolves- he'd saved Jake's life after the newborn war, and he'd patched them up more than once since. He might not have known Billy personally, but was obviously grieving the role his family had played in the man's death.

"I would be honoured." Carlisle gestured them inside, gathering the paperwork for Jacob to sign and introducing himself to Rebecca and Ben, offering condolences to them all for their loss.

It only took a few minutes, each of the girls taking a moment with their father before the paramedics loaded him onto the ambulance. The wolves piled back into their cars, ready to follow back to the meeting centre, where most of the reservation would be gathering to pay their respects.

Jake lingered, watching his family climb into their cars and follow the ambulance. Seth disappeared with one of the others, leaving Leah and Jake alone with Dr. Cullen.

"I don't blame you, Carlisle, for any of it." The relief on the doctor's face was palpable. "You and your wife have always been good to us. You have always looked out for us. But after the funeral, the treaty will become void. Your family have caused the death of another human, however willing she was. Your granddaughter is guilty of crimes I can't even name. If you plan on staying longer in Forks, or on ever returning, then we need to renegotiate."

Carlisle nodded, slowly. He had believed this possible, although his children hadn't thought it.

"Three days after we bury my father, I will come to you at the house. Leah will be with me, and I won't bring anyone else. I won't risk them finding out what really happened. We'll see you later, for the funeral?" Carlisle nodded, shaking Jacob's hand once more, and they left quietly, carrying a small bag that held Billy's belongings.

They drove in silence homeward, Jake stewing and Leah afraid to say anything.

"Do you think that was the right thing to do?" He asked, eventually.

"Carlisle has always been good to us, Jake. You did the right thing." Even if she didn't agree, she had to tell him that, to take the desperate look from his eyes.

"I don't know if I can handle all this Lee. The tension from the pack is driving me crazy- they keep looking at me like I'm going to disappear; like I'm Sam fucking Uley from three years ago: king of the res and boss supremo. And they keep fucking _touching_ me, and a part of me gets it; I do. But a part of me just wants to rip them to little pieces and tell them to fuck off because my father is _dead_ and I just can't handle their shit right now."

She glanced at him, before pulling over to the side of the road and turning off the engine.

"Is there anything I can do?" She couldn't think of anything more she _could_ do. She was Beta, sure, but she couldn't reassure them all that Jake wasn't going to disappear. Not when she was half-affected by it herself.

"Distract me?" He asked. She would have smacked him for being inappropriate, but for the look of desperation in his eyes and the note of hysteria in his tone.

She had told him she wouldn't be a distraction; wouldn't be the mask for his grief. But he was asking. Could she deny him? Really, truly deny him?

No. Of course not. He could have had her against the wall the previous day if he'd wanted, but he'd stopped himself. She unbuckled her belt and, to his immense surprise, she climbed into his lap in the passenger seat. It was a tight squeeze, no doubts there, but he moved the seat back a few inches more, giving her space to move.

She straddled his lap, removed his seat belt herself and pressed her forehead to his.

"Is this what you want Jake? Is this the distraction you need?" She thrust her hips forward, rubbing against his hardness and planted a kiss on his neck, licking and biting her way up to his lips, capturing them with hers and forcing her tongue into his mouth. He moaned into her mouth, his hands moving into place on her hips, forcing her against him again. He could smell her arousal, now, floating up to him and waves of lust crashed over him. Somewhere, he knew that this was just as bad an idea as it had been the day before, but he'd asked her to distract him; to rid him of the pack bullshit and grief for his father, and she was doing it. Leah filled his senses, her hands and lips and her scent, filling him up and leaving no space for anything else. His fingers found her breasts under her shirt, and he snapped off her bra, pulled her shirt over her head and the bra followed. He broke away from her mouth, trailing hot kisses down her chest until he took one nipple in his mouth and bit it, gently. She arched against him, crying out in pleasure, and one of his hands worked under her skirt- perfectly sensible black skirt, which she had paired with a perfectly sensible camisole top and a button up cardigan which had been discarded as they'd left the hospital. His fingers found her clit, and she gasped again, unable to restrain herself. She couldn't form coherent thought as he pushed one finger inside of her, then two; she cried out when he sucked on the sensitive skin on her breasts and rolled her nipples between the fingers on his free hand. Jesus, the things he was doing to her- his mouth; his hands; his lips. Why had she stopped this yesterday? He was thrusting his fingers inside of her, rubbing her clit with his thumb, and whispering dirty words in her ear and she could feel the heat coiling in her stomach, burning and begging for release.

He thrust another finger into her core and she squealed, unused to the size. Jesus, if this was what he did with his fingers, she was almost afraid of his cock.

She came, strangling his fingers inside of her, with a shudder and sigh, and her entire body collapsed against his. She could have cried when he pulled his fingers out of her; and she almost came again when he sucked them into his mouth, one by one. She was reaching for his belt; desperate to free him and take him for hers when he grabbed her hands in his.

"No Lee. We don't have time." He kissed her, slow and deep and she could taste herself on his lips, "We'll get to that later." She blinked, incredulous. She had never, ever thought he'd turn her down- not after _that_, especially. "You were right, yesterday, about this not being the right time to start something." He grinned that stupid cocky grin of his and offered her back her bra and her top. Should she be offended? Annoyed? She felt vaguely upset, but thought it had more to do with the fact that he wouldn't let her play anymore than anything else. He kissed her once more, pulling her tight against him, and whispered in her ear,

"Not when everything else is distracting me from you."

That puddle of girl goo she'd been afraid of? Too late.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A/N: I am not Native American, and I'm pretty sure the Quileute people are fictional, so I have taken massive liberties here with funeral rites and ceremonial details- some, I've adapted from pagan and Celtic ceremonies, because that's what I know, and I have tried to adapt in some Native American facts, but be warned: This is complete fiction on my part, and I mean to offense to anyone.

* * *

Ben couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. Standing in the meeting centre, he was literally surrounded by people he didn't know. Becca kept disappearing- dashing off to say hello to someone, or to help Rachel with food or flowers, and he couldn't see Jacob or Leah anywhere. Leah's little brother- a boy who stood almost a foot taller than him- had kept him company for a while, but he had since disappeared outside with the rest of Jacob's gigantic friends. Becks had told him that the ceremony and the burial would be that night, so he only had to endure the afternoon and evening, which wouldn't be too bad. He caught a brief glimpse of Becca through the crowd and made his way in her direction, dodging and weaving through people who barely glanced at him. It made him distinctly uncomfortable, knowing no-one.

"Ben! There you are! I thought I'd lost you." Becca was standing with a group of women, all sombrely dressed in black but with big smiles and enthusiastic greetings for him. "These are some of Rachel's friends- this is Emily, Sam's wife – I think you met him earlier?" If Sam was one of the gigantic men, then yeah, Ben had probably _seen_ him. Might have even been introduced, but there were so many of them, and they all kinda looked alike. Nevertheless, he smiled and nodded and pretended to remember. Becca carried on, unknowing, "And this is Kim, Jared's girlfriend, and Annie, Emily's sister. Emily and Leah are cousins." Ben was so busy not staring at the scars across the woman's face that he didn't even look for a resemblance. He could see it with Annie though, a faint similarity in the nose and eyes that marked her as Leah's family. Faintly, though, and not something he would have picked up on himself.

They included him in their conversation immediately, for which he was grateful- even when Becca disappeared again. He thanked them for it, when the conversation lulled, and Emily blushed prettily. Overlooking the scars, he could see that she really was beautiful.

"There's no need to thank us, Ben. We all know what it's like to be thrown in the deep end with this crowd. Annie and I aren't Quileute- we're from the Makah res, about three hours north of here. It can take some getting used to, around here."

"So you both moved down here? Following your hearts, or something less interesting?" He grinned, trying to make a joke, but the uncomfortable look that crossed Emily's face made him wince, instead.

"Something like that. Oh, look- there's Sue. I should have a word with her." Emily dodged out, diving into the crowd, and dragging her sister with her, leaving Ben with Kim. One look at his face and she laughed.

"Don't worry- Em's just a little sensitive over the Sam thing, still." Kim leaned in close, whispering into his ear, "Sam and Leah were an item, back in school- and then one day Emily came to the Res to visit her beloved cousin, and Bam! Love at first sight. Leah still hasn't forgiven her, so it makes her uncomfortable." Ben winced, trying to imagine that happening him. Becca falling madly in love with one of his friends, or his brothers? Forced to see her everyday, happy with someone else? Ouch.

"I think I can see why Leah would be pissed. But she doesn't seem too hung up on it anymore." He commented, thinking of his brother-in-law. Kim's eyes lit up, and she giggled.

"You've seen it too? Jake and Leah? The rest of these guys are completely oblivious. Seriously. Jared almost had a fit, telling me that they were, like, hugging or whatever at the mortuary."

"Really? But they seem so perfect together. How has anyone _not_ noticed that before now?" He'd only seen them together for a few minutes and _he_ picked up on it- and he wasn't known for his observational skills. Kim shrugged, looking suddenly uncomfortable, and then quickly changed the subject. She was more skilful at it than Emily, but he did notice. However, given the choice between calling her on it and demanding to know (and, being honest, he wasn't sure he cared too much) and actually keeping the conversation going so he wouldn't be standing around like a loner anymore… suffice to say, he'd keep the conversation, thanks. So they talked about school and life and work, instead, and Ben forgot all about why people thought Jake with Leah was strange. For a while, anyway.

* * *

Outside, Seth sat with Colin and Quil, sometimes talking but mostly silent. Claire was sitting in Quil's lap, sleeping. Around them, the rest of the pack was assembled in groups of two and three. It was too crowded inside; too warm and there were too many people. They'd escaped, as one, shortly after Billy's body was brought inside. That, and their Alpha and Beta had yet to return from the hospital, and the boys were taking bets on whether Leah had killed him for touching her, or not. Seth stayed silent, not wanting the attention to turn on him if he oh-so-casually announced that they were a _thing_. Of course, he wasn't sure what the _thing_ was, so he wasn't sure what he could even announce. Of course, he was also painfully aware that the tension in the pack at the moment was physically hurting their Alpha- he couldn't blame Jake for taking a few minutes to regroup before descending into the madness but he wasn't stupid enough to mention that to the others. He'd have to be everywhere, that day, talking to everyone and leading the rites later. He had enough to think about without wondering if the pack were going ballistic over his absence. Or even over his closeness to Leah. Whatever. He was just sitting there, remembering his own dad's funeral and knowing that Jake was going to float through the next few days and that it would only be after that, when everyone else had gone home and he was alone in the house that the reality of living _without_ Billy would sink in. Seth wasn't looking forward to that revelation for himself, so he didn't even want to think what it would mean for Jake and Rachel. Becca… he wasn't so sure about Becca. He didn't know her, anyway. Although he husband seemed kinda cool. He'd promised to teach Seth to surf if they had time, and the young wolf thought that sounded neat.

His head turned, slightly, when he heard his mom's car pulling up outside. Of course, Leah was driving, but it meant that Jake was there, too. They looked, from where he sat, as if they were arguing about something. Shock, that was not. It was their default mode of behaviour. From the distance, and because they were still inside the car, he couldn't hear what their fight was about, but Leah seemed amused and Jacob only looked annoyed, so it couldn't be too bad. His sister looked tired, actually, and he wondered how long it had been since she'd slept. She was his sister, not to mention his Beta, so he should really be keeping an eye on her. Inwardly, he grinned- that was kinda Jake's job now, though, right? Ha. The entire Pack was watching them, which Seth was sure they'd noticed. Jake had told him he could _feel_ them now; where they were.

It was uber-creepy, but kinda cool at the same time. It made his wolf-side feel safe, so it couldn't be all bad. Of course, there'd be no more sneaking up on Jake from now on, but he'd rarely managed that anyway. He brightened- just because it was harder, didn't mean it was impossible.

Sam was moving, he noticed, making his way toward the car at a slow amble, giving them plenty of time to stop fighting. Of course, that didn't happen and instead, they took their fight outside the car, and the first words Seth heard from his sister was a shrill, "You are not the boss of me, Jacob Black!" Across from her, blocked by the car, her Alpha laughed. Hard.

"I think you'll find I am, Lee. And what I say, goes."

"That is _completely_ unfair! Have you forgotten what century we're living in?! It's the 21st, FYI, and women can both vote and drink. In fact, Alpha dear, _you_ can only do one of those two things." She crossed her arms, Leah Clearwater stubborn glare no. 4 firmly in place.

He waved off her argument, literally, and moved around the car to stand next to her.

"Tough noogies, Lee. I've decided." Her face turned red; then purple and, just as she was about to explode completely, Sam sauntered over.

"Uh. What's going on, guys?" He kept his gaze averted from Jacob, but met Leah's eyes for a second. His eyes widened in surprise, meeting hers. _Smelling_ her. So surprised, in fact, that he didn't even hear Jacob's low growl.

"Nothing Sam. It's between Leah and me. You'll find out, soon enough." His voice was almost a growl and Sam took a few steps backward, averting his gaze once more. Leah, her attention broken from what would have been a wonderful rant, snapped her gaze back to Jake and smacked him, once, on the arm.

Jake turned his back to them, faced the pack instead and wandered off, case closed. Leah flushed, furious, but followed him. Sam returned too, a distant third. Smugly, Seth recognised that that's the way it was now- Alpha, Beta, and Sam, a distant third. The ungracious, petty part of Seth kinda wished Sam were further down the pecking order now. Like, maybe Omega. Or sub-Omega. Negative-Alpha. Whatever the worst position you could get was. Then he could force Sam to do scut patrols. He grinned to himself, but his attention – like everyone else's - was firmly on Jake. Even so, it was Leah who spoke.

"Heads up, you guys- there'll be three Cullens here this evening. The doctor and his wife will be attending the funeral with Bella and Ness, so don't be surprised if you see them here, and please, don't dismember the guests." Leah announced, watching closely for signs of upset. She saw none, "And we need to get the patrols running again- so volunteers please, to start off? In threes is best." Seth volunteered first, itching to phase and run. He hadn't been out, properly, in days. Weeks, it felt like, but actually only two days. Jared and Brady volunteered too, and Leah sent them on their way, telling them she'd be taking over in two hours, so to stay phased 'till they heard her, and whoever else she roped in- Colin and Paul, most likely, as they volunteered next.

He ran off, stripped and phased, and left the funeral behind him with relief. He'd deal with the drama that was his sister's love life later, when he had no choice.

* * *

Rachel was tired; bone tired. Paul was outside, again. He'd been in and out for the hour they'd been back at the meeting centre, checking on her. She'd seen Jared do the same with Kim- but neither of the men could handle the noise and the heat of the inner rooms for long. She could understand that, but all the same she couldn't wait for Jacob to get inside and do his share of small talk. She'd seen everyone from the res and half the population of Forks already, and now there was a rumour that representatives from the NTDA and the AIM were on their way, as some ridiculous 'show of solidarity' that was more about making headlines than helping her and her family grieve. Old Quil wasn't too happy with the idea- muttering about paper pushers and white people trying to make them 'more native'. She wasn't sure what he meant- she was just pretty sure she wanted Jake to be the one to meet them. Or maybe she'd dump it on Becca. She took a second to duck out into the back corridor, and finally found her brother. He was sitting alone in the corridor, staring at the door, and he grinned at her when she emerged, patting the floor next to him in an invitation to sit down.

"How long have you been hiding here?" She tried to keep the accusation from her tone- knowing that Jake was dealing with their dad's death too, in his own way. She had yet to see him break down, cry even, but she had a suspicion that Leah had borne the brunt of that.

"About twenty minutes." He admitted, wrapping one arm around her as she dropped down next to him. "I'm building up the courage."

She sighed, leaning into his embrace.

"I know how that feels."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, content to say nothing and just be still. Rachel had moved home almost two years previously, and they'd grown close in that time- hard to avoid it when they shared a house, really. All the same, they had been alone, just the two of them, on precious few occasions- usually, when their dad was fishing and Paul was patrolling and the Leeches had taken Nessie away on vacation to Canada and the Denali clan. Rare, but enough that Rachel had gotten to know her little brother pretty well. She could tell that he didn't want to talk, but she needed to- she needed someone to talk to who understood everything; who she could be completely honest with. For her, that was Jake. For now, it couldn't be Becca.

"I miss him so much already Jake. I'm out there, talking to people, and I can hear his voice in my head, telling me who is who, and what relation they are to us, or what res they're from, and it just makes me want to cry. What are we gonna do without him?" The scary truth of it was fast approaching- Rachel was working, true, and Jake had a part time gig, but they had been living on Billy's pension and his disability payments. The house was paid for, thankfully, but their expenses were high and their income was low. Jake took a deep breath, willing the rising worry to disperse. He had three months left of school. Just three months.

He had promised his dad he'd finish, and he really didn't want to back out on that, now.

"We'll be fine, Rach. We'll figure something out. I only have a few months left of school, and you and Paul are gonna be married soon- we're all ready to move on; make a few changes. Whatever we need to do, we can do."

He sounded so _old_ that her heart almost broke, and she felt terrible, she did, for laying this on him when she knew all the pack stuff that had changed and what he was dealing with; and the loss of his imprint and whatever was going on with Leah but… they couldn't avoid the reality.

"And, if it gets really bad, I'll get the lottery numbers from Alice." He stated, firmly, but with a tease in his voice that meant she knew he would never do that. He was too noble, too honest, to cheat at life like the Cold One's. She laughed, for his sake more than out of amusement.

"While you're at it, could you find out what the weather will be like on August 15th?" Her wedding date.

"I already did." She glanced at him, surprised. "She said monsoon. Sorry." And she smacked him, for daring to tease about something like that. And then it struck her. Her Daddy wasn't going to be there to walk, well, roll, her down the aisle.

And the tears she'd been holding back all afternoon came forth, like uncorking a bottle. Jake wrapped his arm around her, awkwardly, muttering apologies for teasing her, even though he knew that wasn't why she was crying.

They were interrupted by the door opening quietly, and Becca approached silently, dropping to her knees on Jake's other side, curling into his side and adding her tears to her sister's.

They were there an hour, hiding and talking and sharing stories from when they were younger. Stories of Billy Black, chasing them around the house in his wheelchair. Stories of before that, when their mother was alive and they used to spend the entire day at the beach, building castles and spinning in circles until they were so dizzy they vomited. Their parents would laugh, and clean them up and bring them home to Disney movies and hot chocolate.

They were orphans now, the three of them. The only family they had in the world was one another. There were tears, and unattractive sobbing, and even Jake welled up, once or twice, although he refused to let go entirely- staying strong for everyone, and resolving bury his own grief until he had time to deal with it.

When the tears dried, Becca asked the same question Rachel had.

"What are you guys going to do now?" She knew they had nothing- she knew exactly what they'd come from, and what they earned. Rachel had never been shy about sharing those details.

Jake shrugged.

"We'll figure it out, Becks. I'll take on more work, maybe, or talk to the guys at the garage in Forks, see if they need another pair of hands." He could fix anything with an engine, they knew, but at eighteen and without qualifications, whatever he could earn wouldn't be enough to support a household. Even Becca knew that, and she didn't know how much they ate.

"And how are you going to do that, and finish school? And be on the council? You know they're gonna want you now, right? Eighteen or not, it's your birthright." A brief flash of anger crossed his face- didn't she think he _knew_ that? And Becca didn't even know the half of it. He bit down the anger, calmed the trembling.

"Do I have a choice, Becks? I'll finish school. I'll get a job, and we won't starve. That's as far as my plan goes at the moment."

"I'll look for a better job, too- I'm way overqualified for what I'm doing in Forks. I should be able to find something in Olympia that pays better." It was an hours' drive away, but like Jake said- she didn't have a choice. She was a qualified (and a damn good) speech therapist. Part-time work in Forks wouldn't cut it anymore.

"And what about college, Jake? You wanted to go, right? You can get all kinds of scholarships, and your grades are good, this year. Do you want to go?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, listening to Rachel telling their sister to shut up; to stop pressuring him when he didn't know what he wanted.

They didn't have the money for college- he knew that. Never mind that he was to be head of the council and Alpha of the Pack and fucking everywhere at once, now Becca was trying to force college on him? Just one more thing he'd have to give up for his people and she was sitting there telling him he could- that he could just go, and do it and they'd figure out a way.

He felt ill. The weight of everything was heavy on his shoulders and he could hear Rachel, arguing that he didn't have to go to college if he didn't want to and Becca saying that he should- that both of them had the chance and he should have it too and that he didn't have to stay stuck on this stupid res, babysitting the elders and ruining his life like their dad did, stuck here all the time and-

"Just shut up Becks." He sighed. He was too tired to shout; too exhausted to be angry. "I'm not you. I'm not Rachel." He forced himself to his feet. "I have responsibilities and I have people depending on me." Too many of them, but she didn't know that. "I can't just run away and forget about it because I'm _sad_. This place; this _stupid fucking reservation_ is my life. Just take your husband and go back to paradise and forget all about us." He turned away from them, letting his last words drift over his shoulder. "It's what you're good at."

He opened the door, disappearing into the mass of people inside, and resolutely ignored his sister's tears.

He refused to feel guilty, even as he heard her sobbing through the thin doors. Rachel was doing her best to comfort her, but he had a feeling that Rachel was kinda feeling the same way. She was tied here now, every bit as much as he was. She might make it to Olympia for work, but her heart and her soul were tied to La Push. Becca didn't understand that, true- but neither of her siblings would listen to her tell them that their lives were small, and useless and that they weren't living up to their potential. It was bullshit. Becca didn't understand the first thing about potential.

* * *

He worked the crowd, stopping to talk to almost everyone; thanking them for coming, accepting condolences and offering comfort where he could. He avoided the bureaucrats like the plague- the woman from AIM with her stupid briefcase who smelled of the city and nothing like the Native she was claiming to be, and the man from NTDA whose face held a permanent sneer. They were together, assessing the centre and the town and the people and Jacob just couldn't deal with them. Old Quil, he noted, had forced Emily to talk to them. That was a relief- they wouldn't offend the beautiful, polite and hideously scarred woman who was being so kind to them. There was a lot he could learn from Old Quil.

Toward seven o'clock, the pack patrols switched over again, and he saw Seth re-enter the centre with Jared, on the hunt for food. There was plenty of that- tables laden down with sandwiches and cake and coffee. Jake hadn't eaten. He couldn't stomach it. He greeted them quietly though, taking their report as normal – nothing unusual happening- and moving on again, working his way through the newcomers. His sisters had yet to re-emerge. He wondered if Rachel were telling Becks the truth. He wouldn't be too surprised. Maybe she deserved to know? Maybe it would be easier that way.

But maybe not.

He stopped to talk to Ben, who was holed up with Kim in the corner and they both looked a little worse for the beer bottles around them, but were otherwise having a great time. Kim was entertaining Ben with stories of all the crazy people on the res- sharing their legends, too, he noted. Probably not a bad idea, Ben being aware of the legends, especially should he ever have kids with Becks and be unfortunate enough to run into some Vampires. Unlikely, in Hawaii, but anything was possible.

The hours flew past- he lost track of the people he'd spoken too. He didn't even realise when the mayor of Forks shook his hand and offered condolences. He didn't notice the representative from the Senator's office who offered sympathies from the Senator- did he know that the Senator's grandmother had been Native? No, he had not known that. Did he care? No. He did not care. Jesus, he had never realised how many people his dad had known.

Charlie and Sue kept checking on him- making sure he was eating (he lied) and that he was okay, and that he knew what he was to do later, for the ceremonies. He could see the grief in both of them- grieving Billy and Harry, all over again. It was rough. But he couldn't help them- he hugged Sue, offered Charlie a firm handshake, and then moved on.

Towards nine o'clock, the Cullen's arrived- carrying food Esme had spent the afternoon baking, and looking wholly inhuman amongst the thriving mass of people. He was insanely grateful that it was those three who had come- Bella, who had complete control of her bloodlust, and Carlisle and Esme, who were the closest thing to Mr and Mrs Gandhi as he'd ever come across. Ness was curled in her mother's arms, and Jacob was glad to see her. The space in his heart and his head where she used to be ached, a little, as he took her in his arms, but he ignored it ruthlessly. It would be easy, to let her take him again and quell this pain. But it wasn't what he wanted. The future he wanted wasn't cold and porcelain, but warm and smelled of trees and earth.

"Thanks for coming Bells." He muttered, pulling his old friend into a one-armed hug.

"I'm so sorry, Jacob." He could see in her eyes that she meant it; could see that she wanted to cry for him and all he'd lost. For the part her new family had played in it.

"Carlisle. Esme. Thank you for coming." He nodded to Carlisle, and endured Esme's hug and her murmured sympathies. They wandered off, leaving Ness with Jacob, and went to greet Charlie and Sue. Sue, Jake noted, was altogether uncomfortable with the Cold One's, but did her best to hide it for Charlie's sake.

Ness curled into his shoulder, playing her part as a toddler very well. Of course, she was talking to him through her hands, wrapped carefully around his neck.

_Momma and Daddy have been fighting._ She told him, sadly. He couldn't help but be glad, even if it was petty and he'd accepted the loss of Bella Swan. _She won't look at him, Jacob. She is calling him a liar and a hypocrite and my aunt Rosalie has slapped him. Even Uncle Emmett is angry, and my Uncle Jasper has had to leave the house, because the emotions are too strong and he was ill. Aunt Alice has gone with him- North, to the Denali. _He took a deep breath, grateful for the loss of her control on him, and told her what she needed to hear.

"It will be okay, Nessie. Your momma is angry right now, but she loves your daddy, and she will forgive him, and then everyone can come home." He wasn't sure if he was lying. Surely, Bella loved Edward, but he knew she may never forgive him his lies. They would reunite, he was sure, but her forgiveness was in doubt. The part of him that still considered her his best friend appreciated that. The rest of him was just glad his lie was convincing enough for the little girl.

"Have you ever been to a funeral before, Ness?" He knew the answer was no.

_No._

"Have I told you about what my people believe happens when we die?" He knew the answer was no, but he had told Bella. He remembered telling Bella, years ago.

_No._

"Would you like me to tell you now?" She nodded, her eyes wide.

He was standing near the presentation table, where his father lay. His eyes had been closed, marked with ashes and his body covered in a shroud. The smudge bundles burning by the table masked the smell of death and decay, just about.

"Our people have lived here for many, many years. More years than your grandfather has lived, even." He grinned a little at her, and she rolled her eyes- her expression so very _Bella_ that his heart clenched. But his grief for her mother's death was fleeting. "Our bodies are part of this land- we are fed from it, clothed from it and we are embraced by the land again when we die, going back to the soil to enrich the earth with our bodies." He moved her closer to the bier. "We burn white sage to keep the evil spirits away and to protect my father's body while his spirit moves on to the otherworld." She blinked.

_My daddy says people go to Heaven when they die, Jacob._ He ignored her, the tinge of pain caused by her disbelief was unimportant. He was used to being held as second best to the Vampire.

"Just as our bodies come from the earth, our spirit comes from the air. Around here, that air is salty; sea air, rich and strong and it makes us a strong people. We have survived here, kept our land and our culture when those around us sought to take it away." Around him, he could feel the pack emerging. Somewhere, on patrol, he could feel Leah running, her spirit one with the wind. Her head was turned to home and he could feel her. The scent of woodland was in her nose, even as he smelled sage and death. "When we die, our spirit returns to the air. Sometimes, when the spirit was very strong, or maybe not ready to die, it can stay for a while, trying to protect the ones it has left behind."

_Has your daddy's spirit stayed?_

"My father… his spirit has moved on. He was ready to go, a long time ago, when my mother died. He stayed here with me until _I_ was ready to let him go." He was silent, running his thumb across his father's face, smoothing a wrinkle for a moment. "His spirit is in the air, now, ready to be reborn again in a new life." A single tear tracked down his face and she brushed it away with her tiny fingers.

It wasn't time, maybe, but he reached for the ash paste on the table behind his father's head with his free hand. He struggled for a moment, wondering what to do with Nessie and then Leah was there, her face flushed and her clothing wrinkled. She reached out, taking Ness from him and stepping backward, into the crowd. His sisters emerged, and he became aware that everyone was watching him, wide-eyed. He was suddenly aware that they had been watching, and listening, for some time. Rachel and Becca stood opposite him, eyes bright, and Old Quil took his position at Billy's head. The purification rites were simple. A few words; a dusting of ash and a plume of smoke; the ritual chanting was quick and uncomplicated. Together, Becca and Rachel folded the funeral cloth over their father's face. The original pack- Sam, Jared, Paul, Quil and Embry stepped forward, gripping the handles on the bier and lifting the body to shoulder- height. Jacob took the last handle, eyes closed, and they moved as one out, and to the burial chambers.

The Black family had a crypt, of sorts. It was a stone monument, built into the land in the graveyard by the meeting centre. The door had been prised open, and the scent of rich earth was in the air when the pack laid Billy Black inside, the bier settling into the grave inside, lowered by rope. There was space inside for only three men- Old Quil, Jacob and Paul, lowered the body into the ground and they took their turns filling in the soil, and then replaced the door.

Rachel and Rebecca laid three of the incense bundles by the door, and took the last to the bonfire, using its heat to light the fire. There, they burned their father's clothing, and the table that he had lain on. Somewhere, Jake could hear a drumbeat, echoing in the darkness. It had been many, many years since drums had been heard on a burial night, but there were drums that night.

They spoke their grief into the fire, wishing their father well in his next life, and they watched, the three siblings, standing apart from their friends, until the fire burned to ash.

* * *

A/N: Massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Your comments and encouragement from the last chapters have meant a lot to me, and definately have encouraged me to keep going. I look forward to hearing what you think of this one.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight.

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed, and for setting me straight on the Quileute situation. Seriously? They're a real tribe? Jeez. If I were one of them, I'd be torn between being pissed off at having my heritage butchered and splashed all over the world, and grateful for all attention I was getting as a result. :P

Also, I have no affiliation to AIM- I know very little about them, and I'm really just borrowing the name for my own ends. If that offends anyone out there, tell me, and I'll change the name to something fictional.

* * *

The fire had been dead for over an hour, and Jacob was the last one standing. Paul had brought the girls home, promising to locate the air mattress for Ben and Becca. Jake had apologized to his sister- pulling her into a suffocating hug, telling her he loved her and that he was sorry. He wasn't sure yet, if he'd meant it, but he had known she needed to hear it.

Unsurprisingly, it was Leah who was waiting for him. Sam and Tim were patrolling, with Quil and Michael due on the next shift. Jacob had tried to volunteer, but Leah had refused him, telling him he needed to sleep and she wouldn't take no for an answer. When he was finally ready to leave, locking the meeting centre doors after him, ignoring the mess and dirt that he'd have to clean out in the morning, she was there.

He followed her home. Seth was sleeping and Sue was nowhere to be found- likely, with Charlie in Forks, but neither Leah or Jake paid it any attention. She forced him to sit and eat something- more cereal, unfortunately- and then led him straight to bed, telling him to lie down.

"Get some sleep, Jake. You're no use to anyone as a zombie." She stopped, confusion marring her features, "Are zombies real, do you think? I mean, there are vampires, there are werewolves… why not zombies?" She shook her head, appalled at where her thoughts had drifted to, but he grinned at her, reached out, and pulled her onto the bed next to him.

"I love the way your mind works, Clearwater." His voice, like the rest of him, was tired. "Get some sleep yourself. Sam's patrolling." He said it with confidence she didn't feel, still wary of their new third in command, but his arms around her waist were enough to convince her she could rest. She turned a little, pressing her back into his chest and giving him space to wrap himself around her.

"You handled everything really well tonight, Jake. I was really proud of you." Her voice was so low that he almost missed it, but he heard her, and her words made him tighten his grip around her.

"Thank you." He whispered, his voice hoarse. She closed her eyes, content in the warmth of his embrace, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

She was alone in her room when she woke, and the bed next to her had cooled. It was light out- after six, at least. Jake was gone, and had been for a while. She fought back a shiver of regret that he hadn't woken her, and she stretched out, her aching body snapping and cracking.

She showered, dressed and ate breakfast, and set off for her shift at the store- she'd tried to get some time more time off but they'd refused, and she couldn't afford to lose the job. She had morning shift- seven to twelve, and then patrol from one to four, and an assignment to finish for college that evening. Somewhere in there, she needed to locate her Alpha and talk some sense into him; to finish their argument from the day before. She needed to make sure he was eating, too. But before any of that, she had work to do. She opened up, set the coffee machine up and yawned. It was going to be another long day.

It was after eight when the AIM lady made her appearance. She was wearing jeans and a sweater, and she'd left the briefcase somewhere, but it was definitely her. Leah tensed- she couldn't help it. The woman helped herself to coffee at the machine and picked up an apple before moving to the counter. It was a breakfast Leah would have chosen four years ago- before she needed to eat her own body weight in calories a day just to keep from eating the table.

"You're Leah Clearwater, right?" Leah had finished ringing up the sale when the woman spoke. Her accent was flat- Midwestern, maybe.

"That's me." Leah, regardless of accent, sounded downright unfriendly.

"You're a friend of Jacob Black's?" Again, Leah agreed. She could feel her stomach sinking, dread settling in a pit there. What the hell was this about? The American Indian Movement had been to the reservation several times. As far as she knew, Billy Black had always been polite, but he'd always chased them away with nothing to show for their efforts, too. Leah knew next to nothing about them- some crusading movement, looking for reform and revision of the Native laws and practices.

"I don't want to interrupt the family while they're grieving, but could you get a message to Jacob for me, please?" Leah scrutinized the woman, staring into her eyes until she shifted uncomfortably and averted her gaze.

"It will depend on what the message is." She eventually answered, fervently wishing for another customer, but to no avail.

"Tell him I want to talk to him. I was impressed by him, yesterday, at the service. I'd like to talk to him about coming on-board with AIM and working with us to better the conditions around here." Leah bristled, her hackles rising. Metaphorically speaking, of course. She passed her card across the counter, but Leah didn't so much as look at it.

"I'll tell him." Her voice was unfriendly before, but it was cold now. "But if I were you, I'd just leave town now. Jake won't be calling you."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" She raised a single eyebrow, staring down her nose at Leah, who'd let her head fall forward into her cupped hands, elbows raised on the counter-top.

"Because he's eighteen years old and his dad just died. He has more important things to deal with." To her credit, the woman blushed furiously and stuttered that of course, Leah was correct, and could she pass the card on and he could call whenever he wanted. Leah agreed, grinning on the inside as the woman tripped her way out of the store. She slipped the card into her pocket, resolving to show it to Jake and make sure he ripped it into little pieces. It was petty, maybe, but making the bitch stutter was the highlight of her morning thus far.

The boys called in to the store before school- all of the ones that were still attending, bar Jacob. The council had an account with the store, and the boys were the only ones authorized to add to it- how they hid the food in the annual accounts, Leah did not know but she appreciated their gesture. Feeding a pack of starving werewolves was not cheap, and none of them had money.

"Morning Lee." Seth called, waving at her from the back of the store. The space was filled with giant boys- even without the others around; there were enough of them to make the shop feel small.

The rest muttered greetings and waved in her direction, scouting around for food that would keep them going 'till lunch.

Her brother approached the counter, several bags of chips and a two litre bottle of cola in hand. She grimaced, just looking at it, but rang up the sale, regardless.

"Did you see Jake this morning?" She asked, forcing herself not to bite her lip. She was aware that, with the mention of his name, they _all_ looked in her direction. Obviously the La Push rumour mill was churning- patrol the previous night had been pretty awkward, with Paul pushing her for gossip and Colin too intimidated to say anything. Paul, of course, hadn't pushed her too far- so no-one knew anything, yet. He'd been oddly restrained, and not nearly as easy to rile up as before. Of course, she could feel the empty space in his chest where Billy used to be, and it made her realize just how much the whole pack was affected by the man's death- Paul had seen him every day for eighteen months. He had been like a second father to him, too. It meant she went easy on him the night before, and when they felt the call to return to the funeral, they'd run together.

She'd never felt anything like that, the call the night before. She knew that only her, Paul and Colin were phased but all the same, she could _feel_ Jacob reaching out for her. She could have sworn he touched her mind, just for a moment, and she was running to him before she really realized what was happening. Paul and Colin followed her, fueled by the desire to get back as quickly as possible. When she got there, everyone was staring at Jake, listening to what he was saying. She didn't hear the words, she was too late for that- but she'd get them from one of the boys when they phased next. It was interesting, seeing everyone else watch him and listen to him, almost with the same reverence as the Pack had, these days. Interesting, but eerie. She'd stepped forward quickly to claim Ness once it was clear that he was starting the ceremony. She barely met Jake's gaze but it was enough to see the relief in his eyes, just for a second. Then, Nessie, the little girl who had never really spoken to Leah before, placed her hands carefully on the woman's face and asked her question after question, _What to the words mean, Aunt Leah? Who is that man, Aunt Leah? Rachel and Rebecca are identical twins, aren't they? _Of course, Leah couldn't answer but she only stopped her barrage of questions when the bier was lifted and the boys took Billy's body to rest. Leah had followed, like everyone else, and watched from a distance, holding the child close to her body to keep her warm in the cold night air.

Only when the Black siblings were lighting the bonfire did Bella emerge from the crowd, a pained expression on her face. Esme and Carlisle were no-where to be seen. They'd been forced to leave, earlier, when the scent of burning sage became overpowering. It didn't surprise Leah that the scent, designed to ward off evil spirits, had driven the Cold One's from the room. Nessie, however, was shocked- Leah could feel it through her skin, as the girl moved from her arms to her mother's.

Seth's reply snapped her back to reality.

"Nope. I thought you would have, seeing as he slept in _your_ bed last night." His grin was cocky and he meant no harm, but Leah couldn't control the blush that crept up her face. Oh god. She hadn't blushed like that in years! Goddammit. The assembled Pack members held back their laughter and she was never more grateful that the elder boys were not present- they would not have held back; they'd have humiliated her completely.

"That may be so" Oh god, even her voice was high-pitched with embarrassment, "But he was gone when I woke up and I thought you might have seen him." She tried her best to finish on a glare, but it was far less effective when she was still red with mortification. He looked a little abashed, but not nearly enough for her satisfaction.

"Well, I didn't." His words were defiant- he was abashed, but not regretful, it seemed. Her blush faded, a little. "But if I do see him, I'll tell him you miss him, huh?" Oh god, it was back, worse than ever. Her own little brother, teasing her? What was the world coming to? She punched him, hard, on the arm, and shoved his food at him in a paper bag.

"Get out, dipshit." He laughed and stepped back, and the rest came forward, ringing through their food and she dutifully them all to the council account. Before they left- even Seth was still lingering at the door, she remembered the AIM woman. If she'd been approached, the woman might try again with someone younger, and more susceptible to breasts.

She trotted out after them, catching the group just outside the doors.

"There's a bitch from AIM asking around about Jake. If she talks to any of you, say nothing, and tell her to come talk to me, got it?" They all nodded, saying their goodbyes again and leaving her alone in the store once more.

Only three more hours and she could, what? Stalk her Alpha? Chase after the boy who'd left without as much as a good morning? Sighing, she flopped back behind the counter. Yeah, pretty much.

As it happened, she got to leave early, at ten thirty. The first thing she did was try his cell, which unsurprisingly went unanswered. She tried the house, but Becca answered- no, he wasn't there. She tried _her_ house, just in case, but hung up when her mother answered. What could she have said? Oh, Jake slept with me last night, is he still there? Yeah, that would have gone down well with Sue 'No boys under my roof' Clearwater. Leah might be twenty-one, but her mother was still the scariest woman in the world. Standing outside the store, she could see the school clearly in the distance. Somehow, she doubted he would have made it back to school that day. Of course, the school had been unofficially closed the previous day- but she hadn't known about that until Mrs. Hunt had told her, just after nine am. Mrs. Hunt had spoken about how lovely it was to see the school reflecting how important Billy had been to the community, even if he had no official standing in the eyes of the law. Of course, the La Push council had always gone out of their way to avoid becoming the official representatives of the Natives on the res- something about how it made them harder to bully, when the White Man didn't know where to crack his whip.

Leah didn't get it, but it was one of those pieces of wisdom that she had just accepted from her father. Her feet led her to the meeting centre, and she was surprised to see the door open and even more surprised to find Jacob inside, cleaning up. He was alone.

"I thought you had minions to do this kind of thing for you?" She asked, leaning against the doorway in an attempt to remain nonchalant. He laughed.

"My minions are all at school or at work, unfortunately. You want to give it a go?" He offered her the broom.

"Sorry Jake. I'm not your minion anymore, remember?" Her tone was slightly caustic and he winced.

"Leah, we've been through this. I'm sorry- but I don't have a choice. You're the only one I trust, you know that, right?" Well. He hadn't said _that_ yesterday while she'd been screaming at him.

"Really? That's what this is about? You don't trust Sam to do it?" Of course, she wasn't going to make it easy for him. He continued with the broom, sweeping up crumbs and bits of paper. The room was mostly cleared- he'd been busy, that morning.

"That's not it Leah. It's not about having to choose someone who's not Sam; it's about choosing you, in particular. Why are you having problems understanding that?"

She glanced down at her fingernails, already regrown from her nervous picking at the airport.

"I guess I'm just not used to people choosing me." Her voice was small, and quiet, and enough to make him drop the broom.

"Am I going to spend the rest of my life trying to make up for what he did to you?" His voice matched hers, but her heart almost stopped at the depth of pain in it. Jesus. What was she doing to him? She was here to _help_, to be his fucking support and instead she was messing with his head and fighting him. What the fuck was wrong with her?

"I'm sorry." She'd managed to say that without flinching. Wow. "For being such a head case" He glanced at her, a tiny grin on his lips.

"Is that just for being a head case recently, or for being a head case in general?" She growled, and he laughed.

"It's not even about that, Lee. I don't care if you're mental, or if you scream and me and fight me and hit me in front of the guys. I don't give a shit about any of that." He stalked over to her, getting up close and personal, suddenly. "But what is going to take for you to understand that I. Choose. You." He placed his palms on her face, stroking her skin with his thumbs. "I want YOU." He dropped his forehead to hers, sending a wash of warm air over her skin. "I love you."

She couldn't answer him. What would it take? He'd already offered her everything and she'd fought with him about it. He had plans; things he wanted to change in La Push, and he wanted her by his side as he did it. He'd told her that- asked her take his place on the council until he finished school because he couldn't handle it. He needed _her_ to do it for him, just like her mother had done it when Harry couldn't. That scared her, really, truly scared her. The council seats weren't transferable, not really. Not unless you were fucking married, and he just _offered_ it to her. Of course she freaked out. They weren't even _dating_ for fuck sake- and she knew she loved him; she knew that more clearly than she'd ever known anything, but he was still a kid, and he didn't know what that meant and she couldn't… she couldn't let him in there, just to have him realize that it wasn't her that he wanted. She couldn't do that again. And she'd seen him, yesterday, with Nessie and she'd wanted to rip the kid from his arms and throw her off the res, just in case.

And then he was here, touching her, and saying these things and looking at her like she was the only woman on earth. She closed her eyes, pushing her forehead against his in a wholly lupine gesture.

"I just need you Jake. I need you to not go away and not get bored of me, or leave me behind or-"

He cut her off, kissing her fiercely.

"What's it gonna take, Leah?" Her brain was frazzled. Hadn't she answered that already?

"There's nothing, Jake- I just… I need _you._" She needed him, what? Needed him to not leave so she'd know he wasn't leaving? Jesus. She was suddenly the high-maintenance, needy girlfriend. He pushed against her, trapping her against the wall, pressing his body to hers.

"Need me to what, Leah? What do I need to do?" Her body was on fire where he was touching her and her skin crawled with the need to touch him- but he stopped her roving hands, trapping them against the wall with one of his. She raised one leg, instead, wrapping it around his waist and pulling him closer. He helped that by grabbing her hip, grinding into her and she gasped at the sensation, even through two layers of clothing. "You have to tell me, Lee, because I don't know." This wasn't fair- she couldn't think; could barely breathe and he was asking things she couldn't answer. His lips found hers again and his tongue invaded her mouth, pushing and teasing and demanding an answer without words.

And then she knew, and it wasn't the human part of her that had an answer. Her wolf side, usually dormant in human form, pushed forward, breaking the kiss and snarling at him.

"I need you to shut up and fuck me, Jake. Take me for yours and make me see stars. And if you can't do that, then I need you to fucking tell me." His grin, in return, was equally wolfish and he pressed closer to her, rubbing his hardness against her.

"Is that what you want Lee? You want me to fuck you? What? Against the wall?" She snarled again, thrashing against him, trying to break free; angry, now.

"You asked, and I told you. That's what I need, asshole, so either do it, or let me go." He released her and she nearly fell to the ground, stunned. What the fuck? Her entire body was trembling, and she knew she was close to phasing. She was panting hard, trying to catch her breath and control her lust and he was just strolling toward the door. She had never been so disappointed in her life. Her head dropped, eyes fixed on the floor. When she heard the door shut, she thought she'd cry. When she heard it _lock_, her eyes snapped up, seeing him still there, watching her.

"If you're going to be mine, Lee, I'm not gonna let anyone else see you." And her lust was back, roaring for her to jump him. Her wolf side held her back, making him come to her. This was his game- he had to prove it to her, how much he wanted her. He grabbed her hand, dragging her further inside. The lighting was dim, but she could see just fine in the dark. He kissed her, roughly, pulling her against him and lifting her up by the thighs, forcing her legs around him, and stepped forward, placing her gently on the table. His hands were busy, unbuttoning her shirt and undoing her bra with skilled fingers. She held herself back, her hands in his hair, but refusing to touch him otherwise. She was naked from the waist up, her legs locked around his waist, pulling him close to her and his lips dropped from hers to her neck, to her breasts; his teeth teasing her nipples and she fell back on the table, the wood cold against her bare back.

He pulled her legs apart, running his hands along her calves until he reached her feet and he pulled off her shoes and dropped them to the floor. Her hands gripped the table edge and her whole body was trembling again, but in a different way this time.

He reached for her pants- jean cut offs that ended just above her knee. The button fell open easily and she raised her hips, letting him pull them off her, joining the rest of her clothes on the floor. She wasn't wearing underwear, and she allowed herself a small smile at the look on his face when he realized _that_. And then, his tongue was licking the inside of her thigh and his hands held her hips in place as he found her clit with his lips and then she _did_ see stars, gasping and shuddering around his tongue as she came. Jesus, she was easy. He worked his way back up to her lips, kissing and biting his way up her body.

She was still coming down from the last one when his fingers found their way inside of her, his thumb pressing on her clit as he thrust one finger and then two inside of her, stroking her walls and leaving her squirming under him, desperate for more. Her hands moved, of their own accord, to the button on his jeans. She got the button open before his hand stopped her, and he stared into her eyes and shook his head slowly. _No_. She didn't get to play this game, yet. He trapped her hands above her head with his free hand, and kissed her to silence her protests, even as his fingers continued their work further south. He released her lips as she came, moaning his name in what was easily the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He'd gotten a taste of it the day before- what it felt like to bring Leah to orgasm; what it looked like to see her come. He was pretty sure he'd never stop enjoying that. She was panting hard, trying to catch her breath, when he pulled off his own shirt, tossing it in the pile with her clothes. She drank in the sight of him; her beautiful Alpha. When he pulled off his pants, she thought she'd died and gone to heaven. She'd caught glimpses of him before- gloriously naked. But here, standing in front of her, his cock erect and gleaming with pre-cum… she felt herself heat up again, ready to take him inside of her and make him hers.

Of course, this was his game, for now, so she did nothing. Just stared at him with bedroom eyes and willed him to get on with it, for God's sake. Or hers. It wasn't completely surprising when he gripped her hips and flipped her onto her stomach, bent over the table. Jesus. She'd told him to 'take her', and he was doing it- his hands on her waist, steadying her as he pushed her legs apart with his knee, dropping his head to bite her gently on the ass before kissing his way up her back to her neck.

He thrust inside of her in one long movement and she screamed, half- pain; half pleasure. Jesus, he was huge. He filled her completely and when he began to thrust she bit back tears. His hands were moving- one, wriggling under her to her breast and one to her clit, rubbing it in time with his thrusts, slow and steady. And then his mouth found her neck, and she could almost feel the wolf emerge as he bit down on her pulse point. She certainly felt the skin breaking as he gripped her, his thrusts gaining speed and she clenched around him, coming hard with the sensation of him biting her and pounding into her at the same time. But he didn't come- he kept pounding, pulling out of her and slamming back in, as rough as she'd ever fantasized he would. His teeth kept her in position, kept her from flipping him over and riding him. She could feel her wolf, rising to meet his, her hips thrusting back to meet him, her own growl rising to match the one she felt rumbling against her back. His pace quickened and he must have been close, biting down harder as he slammed back into her- she came again, harder, and her walls tightened around him, strangling him inside of her and he came too, seeing lights behind his eyes and lost in her warmth. Leah gasped his name, crying out to him, but his teeth were still biting down on her, his growl the only sound he was making. He stopped moving, halted, resting inside of her, and gently removed his teeth, licking the wound gently. She turned her head to him, forcing his lips onto hers for just a second before he pulled out and back, letting her up from the table.

She had bruises on his hips where he'd gripped her, and the wound on her neck was nasty- broken and bleeding and bruised. His eyes widened when he saw it all, the wolf retreating as the boy came forward, muttering apologies and looking so guilt ridden she was kind of shocked.

"Jake, stop apologizing." She stood up, stretching out her back as she moved. He was, she noted with glee, already half-hard again. Excellent. "This is exactly what I needed. Exactly what I asked for." He met her glance shyly.

"So. Are you convinced yet? Are you mine, now?" The confidence she loved came back into his voice as he spoke.

She grinned at him- the hundred megawatt smile he had missed.

"Forever, if you'll have me."

Her wolf was quietened; contented. The anxiety that had been in her stomach, curdling her mood and fueling her rage, was gone. Fucked out of her, maybe? Or maybe… her hand rose to touch the bite. Maybe just contented, now Jacob had claimed her as his. Wolves mated, the Alpha Pair. Mated and ran the Pack together. She realized, suddenly, that the anxiety had been there for as long as she'd been wolf- Alpha female by default, but with no male to claim her. Sam, she wouldn't have let touch her anyway, but Jacob… he'd been stolen from her for a whole year by the half-vampire, and left her to stew in an un-winnable situation, made worse then by her elevation to Beta. She'd had the position; the power. But she hadn't had the mate. Her hand clasped on the bite mark and she grinned again, wolf-like.

"I think I can live with that." He finally replied, matching her smile with one of his own. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before bending down to grab his clothing. Leah leaned over, taking his pants from his hand, and dropped to her knees.

"You have a choice. I can put these on you," She glanced upward, meeting his gaze even as her tongue darted out, licking his cock from tip to shaft, "or I can do something much, much more interesting." His eyes widened, and he didn't have time to answer before she pulled him into her mouth, sucking hard. Much more interesting, indeed.

* * *

It was more than an hour later before they got dressed and finished the cleanup Jake had started. She'd missed the start of her patrol- but a quick call to Jared sent him out instead. He didn't even ask why; she just promised to cover his later one and that suited him fine. Jacob took her hand in his as he unlocked the door, blasting fresh air into the meeting centre, intent in clearing out the scent of sex before anyone else got there.

Unfortunately, outside the door, the real world was waiting for them. She was wearing her suit again, dressed in heels and leaning against the door of a rental car. Leah wanted to slap the smirk off her face.

"_This_ is more important than what I had to say?" She grinned. Jake, who hadn't heard about Leah's earlier visitor, frowned in confusion, but still managed to say the right thing.

"Lee is more important than _anything_ you have to say." Leah grinned, still stuck in the newness of them enough to find that romantic and not patronizing.

To her credit, their visitor kept smiling.

"I just want a quick word with you Jacob. Can I have five minutes?" He knew who she was, of course- remembered her from the night before.

"Sure. Five minutes. Fire ahead." She glanced around, as if checking for eavesdroppers. He didn't tell her that the only other person within hearing distance was Jared, passing the centre on his way to the patrol runs.

"What can you tell me about the La Push legends? I need to know all about your wolf legends."

* * *

A/N: Voila, Blackwater love. And, of course, trouble following shortly after.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Still don't own Twilight

A/N: Big thank you's to all who have read, and to those that have reviewed- you guys are the best readers anyone could ask for. :)

* * *

"If it's legends you want to hear about, you need to speak to Old Quil." Jacob answered easily, not even hinting that he was any more aware than most of the legends that surrounded La Push.

"I have spoken to him. But I want to hear what _you_ have to say about it." There was something calculating in her stare that set Jake's teeth on edge, but all the same… his wolf side was quiet. Uninterested, almost.

"I know what everyone knows- that Taha Aki and the Great Wolf combined to drive out the usurper and that from then on the Wolf spirit was joined with the Quileute people. It's a nice story." His grin was disarming, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Leah focused her attention on the treeline, feigning disinterest. Jared had moved on- he'd barely paused by the centre, just long enough for her to see him, distantly, and wink in his direction.

"It is a great story- one great leader, bringing great change and prosperity to his people through his own sacrifice." She tilted her head, scrutinizing him again. "I hear you're not going to college. Why is that?" His gaze turned to a glare, and even Leah's eyes snapped back to her at that. How had she known that? He'd only admitted it _yesterday_, to his sisters. The Pack knew, of course. Maybe Old Quil had told her.

"Probably not, no. I don't have the money, or the interest." His voice had lost its charm, sounding cold to Leah's ears. But their visitor- her name, Leah recalled was Marianne… something- ignored the change in tone, never losing her pleasant expression. Her dark hair flashed at the edge of Leah's vision, telling her that the woman was watching her, too. Leah was really starting to dislike her.

"I thought it was because of your new position on the council? Chief of the Quileutes. Quite a burden for a teenager, wouldn't you say?"

"It's not a burden, lady, it's a responsibility. And I haven't been elected yet, so let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, okay?"

Ah, the election. Leah snorted. As if anyone would be voting for anyone else? The elections were a joke- theoretical democracy. The Black family had held the chief of the tribe for as long as anyone could remember, and beyond. Jake shot her a glare- her laughter wasn't helping, but the glare just meant she laughed harder.

"Come off it Jake. Everyone knows you're the next chief. Marianne here knows it, I know it," And she poked him in the chest, "Even you know it." He made a face- almost a grimace. She was right, of course.

"So we're agreed then, you're to be the chief?" The woman grinned, as if she'd won something. Leah wanted to smack her. Not the wolf side, her wolf side didn't care- this was just Leah. The wolf side just wasn't interested- it saw no threat.

"Whatever. Are you done?" Obviously, Jake was just as peeved as she was. The interruption had _not_ been welcomed. But at least it was giving them plenty of time to air out the meeting centre, she supposed. The door, behind them, was still open and the scent of her and Jake was wafting out, warming her up from the inside out. She shook her head, trying to clear her nose of the scent and get her mind back on the conversation.

"Not quite, Mr. Black. Do you know what it means to be a great leader?"

He blinked, and just stared at her. She continued, regardless.

"The leaders that you're learning about in school- Kennedy; Roosevelt; Lincoln. The White Man's legacy in this country. What do you know about your own leaders? Who do you think of when you think of great Native people today?"

Oh god, he felt like he was back in school, there was an exam, and he was failing.

"I don't know; I don't think about it. There's no-one, I guess. Not like that, anyway."

She met his gaze, a tiny smile on her lips. Whatever she'd wanted, she seemed to be getting it. Prove him illiterate and uneducated and get him dumped from the council? Maybe just embarrass him because he'd ignored her the day before? Whatever. He just wanted her gone. She turned back to her car and took two folders from the passenger seat. Card folders, with a fold-over top. One was filled with pages and pages of loose notebook paper, completely full. The second held a few sheets, but no more than ten.

"I asked the same question today, in the elementary school, the middle school and the high school, and I asked each child to write me down their answer and the reasons why." She gestured to him with the heavy, full folder. "These are all the ones that chose _you_." She picked the second folder, "And these are the ones who chose Ms. Clearwater."

What. The. Fuck?

"It seems, Mr. Black, that you have made quite the impression on your own schoolmates." At random, she picked out a page, "Jake is an example of a great Native living today because cares so much about everyone living here. Everyone knows that if you have a problem, Jacob will fix it, even if he doesn't know you."

What. The. Fuck? Was this a joke? Some kind of weird, admittedly flattering, crazy-ass joke? Leah snatched the folders from her, a gleam in her eyes, and settled back against the car, flicking through the pages in his folder.

"Okay. So?" Bizarre it may be, but he didn't know what the hell to think about it.

"So? So, I wanted to meet you myself. Get to know Billy Black's replacement. I liked your dad- he always had the best interest of his people in mind." She glanced sideways, watching Leah paw through the essay's with a grin. "I wanted to know what people were saying about you, and I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised." Her words were a kind of patronising, but she disarmed them with a warm smile. Behind the smile though, the same calculating gaze lingered, and Jake just wished he knew what she really wanted. Leah, apparently, was thinking the same thing and, from her position propped up on the bonnet of the car, she had no compunctions about asking.

"Listen, lady, just say whatever it was you came here to say. You have an agenda- that's pretty fucking obvious. But I am not going to go grey waiting for you to spit it out, so either talk or leave." The girl hadn't even looked up from the papers, which she had now split into two piles in her hands. He didn't have to see them to know that she'd separated the Pack essays from the others, skimming them to ensure that no-one had said anything stupid. Of course, the opportunity for mockery was also too good for her to pass up.

Leah missed the resulting glare, but Jake saw it- raising his eyebrow in question. Marianne flushed, off-balance for the first time in the conversation.

"We're looking for leaders, young, good looking, persuasive- you fit the profile." Her eyes darted between the two of them, finding their full attention on her quite disconcerting. "Our people- the entire Native community- are facing a crisis. We're losing the old ways; losing our languages. Our young people are in prison, drinking; taking drugs, and we're not addressing the problem. AIM are trying to do something about it- we want people like you, Mr. Black, to be an inspiration to your peers."

Jacob's face was blank. Leah was the one who flushed, just a little, and she slid off the car and turned to face the visitor, slamming the papers into Jake's arms as she moved.

"That was ninety percent bullshit and ten percent truth. Wanna try again?" She couldn't tell the other woman that she could _smell_ the lies, but they hadn't been too convincing anyway. She wanted Jake, sure, but not so he could give pep talks to career criminals. Marianne paled, her dark skin turning grey under Leah's scrutiny. Her eyes were dark, almost black, and there was a glint in them that screamed of nervousness to the she-wolf.

"I'm not lying, I swear, AIM want to recruit-" Leah took a step forward, just managing to catch herself before her voice turned to snarl, cutting off the woman's words.

"Don't lie to me. What do _you_ want with Jake?" Jake, who was standing behind her, more amused than anything else. He wasn't sure what was going on- Leah was having a fucked up staring contest with a complete stranger and he was reading about how half the children in the res thought he was awesome because he was _tall_ and he could fix cars. He noticed though, when Marianne didn't answer. She was silent, glaring back at Leah with angry eyes. Leah, never one to back down, had placed herself deliberately between him and Marianne, and the other woman was pressed back against her car. There were several long minutes of tense silence, before Marianne finally averted her gaze. Staring at the ground, she spoke, but her voice was shaky. Jake was pretty sure he'd missed something but he couldn't begin to understand what, exactly.

"We… there have been rumours about this place. Visitors coming away with stories about wolves sighted in the daylight and people being hurt and killed by monsters. Billy Black… he always refused to tell us what he knew, but I thought that Jacob might."

"Might what, exactly?"

"That he might tell us what's been happening here."

"And who, exactly, is _us_? Cos it sure as hell isn't AIM." Leah stepped back a little, forcing her body to relax a little, attempting to appear less super and more natural. "AIM doesn't give a shit about La Push- some Podunk little res, miles from anywhere."

"We, uh, we're part of AIM. Part of a lot of things, I suppose. I… they sent me to see what's happening here, after Billy died. He'd always blocked our efforts; refused to tell us what was going on, and it's important! We need to know if someone is killing people around here."

"You didn't answer my question. Who is '_us'_?" The woman shrank a little, seeming to fold in on herself as Leah advanced.

"We… watch. We keep an eye on the Native populations, watching for… oddities." The woman didn't say it, but Leah heard the words _shape shifters._

"Are you telling me that you came here" She kept her voice low "the _day_ after we buried our chief, Jacob's _father_, to talk about fairytales?!" She practically spat the word, and Marianne shivered, only noticeable to someone with advanced senses. Leah forced herself to step back, moving away until she backed into Jacob. He reached out, spreading one hand flat on her back and the contact made her shiver.

Marianne seemed to pull herself together a little, her spine straightening and her gaze lifting from the ground. She wasn't quite ready to meet Leah's eyes though, choosing instead to gaze at the folders, suspended in Jake's hand.

There was silence for a moment, no-one willing to speak- Leah, afraid she would phase; Jake content to leave her to handle it and Marianne, wondering how she could un-create this mess.

Finally, it was Leah who broke the silence, sufficiently calm again so that her voice and her face didn't reflect her distress.

"Get into your car and get off my res."

The woman met her gaze, briefly, before nodding slowly and making her way to the driver's door. She glanced back, once, at the folder but Leah shook her head. "We're keeping them. Now go. Don't make me tell you again."

In her rush to leave, Marianne didn't look back. But the scent of her anxiety drifted from her open window and Leah caught a faint whiff of something that had been hidden before, beneath the scent of perfume and shampoo.

_Feathers?_

She sneezed.

* * *

Becca finished drying the last of the dishes, stacking them neatly in the cupboard before turning back to the kitchen, desperate for something else to do. The house was quiet- Ben was out with Paul, on the official tour of La Push which should have only taken fifteen minutes, but was heading on for three hours. She was willing to bet that Rachel had asked Paul to be nice to him, to be friendly and bring him on the tour. Of course, that would have given her plenty of time with Rachel, but Rachel had disappeared too, off to talk to Sue Clearwater about something and leaving her on her own in the house for the first time in years.

She hadn't slept well the night before, with her brother's words ringing in her head. He'd apologised- hugged her and said he hadn't meant it. But part of her didn't think he should have bothered. He'd been right, if a bit cruel at the time. And now the house was clean, everything had been washed and polished and vacuumed, and she was left in the silence, alone. She hadn't been able to bring herself to open the door to her dad's room. She'd gone to the door three times- once, she'd even managed to turn the handle, but she'd backed off, swearing that it wasn't right to go through his things without Rachel or Jacob with her. And speaking of her brother, she had no idea where he was- he hadn't come home with them the night before, although he had reminded Paul about the mattress, and she hadn't seen him yet all day. He couldn't have been in school, right? He wasn't crazy, going back to school the day after the funeral. No way. He might have grown up a lot in the years she'd been away (okay, he'd grown up completely) but he couldn't have changed that much. At that, her thoughts turned to Leah, and she couldn't help but frown- the girl was just a few months younger than her, for God's sake. What was she doing with _Jake_? How had they even come to be friends, much less romantically involved? That revelation had definitely been a bolt from the blue- she'd even heard Rachel and Paul arguing about it, early that morning. Paul was ranting about Sam and how he'd be hurt and how it was _wrong_ and Rachel was trying to convince him that it was _sweet_. She couldn't really hear them too clearly- she'd have sworn that Paul kept mentioning printing, but that made less sense than _sweet._ Becca really didn't know what to think. She'd been away for so long- she'd run away for so long, as her brother had pointed out-, that she didn't really think she was even entitled to an opinion on the matter. But that brought her back to wondering where he'd spent the night- had he been with Leah? All night? He was only eighteen, but that was hypocritical because she'd married a man two years older than her when she was eighteen- how was this any different? 

_It's different, because when I think of Jake, I see a gangly fourteen year old and not the giant man he's grown up into._ She sighed, dropping onto the couch and taking a cushion in her hands, plumping it up several times before settling for just playing with the frayed edges. She'd been on her own in the house for too long. Hours and hours too long, it felt. Unfortunately, it was barely one o'clock, so the clock appeared to disagree with her. She couldn't stay here any longer; alone. Every sound and every sight reminded her of her dad, and how it had taken her so long to come home and then the guilt would claw at her throat until she couldn't breath and there was nothing left to clean; nothing else she could cook or tidy or fix to make the guilt go away. So she left- dashed out the front door and down the porch steps. It was raining, a gentle drizzle, but she didn't go back for her jacket. She couldn't go back there until someone else was there with her. She was halfway to the graveyard before she realised where she'd been going, but it didn't stop her- she kept walking, the rain easing off the closer she got, thankfully. She noticed the car, speeding away, before she saw Jake and Leah, standing together outside the meeting centre. They were talking quietly, but broke off, smiling and waving, when they saw her approach.

"Hey guys." Why did she sound nervous? What was wrong with her? This was her brother and one of her oldest friends, and suddenly she didn't have any words?

"Becks- you're soaking wet! What are you doing out in the rain?" Jake demanded, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes- he was just like their dad, she realised.

"I'm a big girl Jake; a little rain isn't going to kill me. It's not like I didn't grow up here too, you know." Besides, Leah was standing next to him in cut-off jeans and a tiny top and he wasn't coddling her. He made a face at her, sneering but not cruel, and just accepted it. She was grateful not to have to argue the point. She was too tired to fight with him again, especially over something so trivial. Their non-conversation idled, and she became suddenly and increasingly aware of a distance between herself and her brother that she had never seen before. It wasn't just the fight the day before- something had changed with him, completely and totally, in the time she had been away. She'd spoken to him, often, and she knew he'd gone through heartbreak and he'd run away for a while and he'd had some trouble in school but this… this was different. This was unexplainable by missing school and having a broken heart. He looked at her like… almost like Paul looked at her- like she was a pale imitation of Rachel. It hurt her heart to think that she didn't know him anymore; that her sister was taking up all the space, and that Leah seemed to be getting whatever was left. Even the child he'd been holding at the funeral the night before got more words from him than she had, since she'd arrived home.

"Leah? Could you give me a minute alone with Jake, please?" The words were out before she realised what she was saying. Leah blinked, nodded, and said her goodbyes- barely looking at either of them as she gathered her things and set off at a jog toward her home.

She waited for the other woman to be gone- well out of earshot- before she even opened her mouth.

"I'm sorry, for what I said yesterday." He looked surprised to hear it. "It's just… for the longest time, I've thought of this place as a death sentence- something you can't escape until you die. And I was proud of myself, for getting out of here before that happened to me. And Rachel too- she had gotten out; she'd escaped, until she met Paul. And that's not his fault, and I can't blame her for wanting to be in love and be happy; but there's a part of me that is always going to think that we are better than this place; better than what this place allows us to be. But I am sorry, for saying that your role here is unimportant. That's not true. I know that." _Sort of._ She added, internally.

"What do you want me to say, Becks? That I accept your apology? That everything will be fine and we'll all live happily ever after?" She blushed, and hoped he wouldn't notice. That kind of had been what she'd been hoping for. "If I thought you really meant it, Becca, I'd accept it. But I don't believe you do- you're sorry for how I reacted, maybe, and for the fighting. But you believe it. You honestly think that there is nothing La Push can offer me, and that's… well, that's sad. But I think we both know what's really going on here- you're home, and you're realising that La Push isn't really your home any more. You've left, and you've moved on, and you regret that you ever had to come back." He smiled wryly. "I get that." Of course, Lee had explained it to him. Gods, but girls had complicated logic. He understood- he'd tried leaving once himself, but had found himself sucked back in by love and duty. Becca's love took her to Hawaii- her duty… well. It was her duty that had her here, for now.

"When did you get so insightful?" She asked, blinking back tears. "When did you grow up, Jake? How did I miss that?" He shrugged, unconcerned.

"You miss a lot when you move on. It's the price you pay for freedom." That one, he'd realized all on his own. They were silent for a few minutes, alone in their thoughts.

"So… what's up with you and Leah Clearwater? That's pretty new, huh?" To her surprise, he shook his head.

"It's been building for more than a year, really, but I guess I realized how much I needed her, just when everything went to hell." He didn't even blush. God, was he not normal at all anymore?

"So, when I ask why Leah's shirt was on inside-out and she had the mother of all hickeys on her neck, you're not going to deny being responsible?" He shook his head, laughing. "You're using protection, right? Because I am way too young and pretty to be an aunt." She'd expected him to laugh again, but he was oddly quiet.

"Lee can't have kids, so that's not really an issue Becks." To say she was stunned would be an understatement. "Don't mention it to her, please- she gets all paranoid about it." She nodded slowly, too shocked to actually respond. Her father would have been so disappointed- he was always begging her for grandchildren.

"Did dad know?" She really needed to engage a brain/mouth filter. But the pain she'd expected didn't cross her brother's face.

"Yeah, he did. He loved Leah." That was it, case closed.

"Oh." God, the silence was awkward.

"Are you hear to clean up inside?" She hadn't even thought of it until he asked, but covered her surprise with a nod of agreement. "Well, it's done already so you don't need to worry about it." He meant it as a comfort, but it just added to her rising guilt. Was there nothing she could do to be useful around here anymore? "Why don't you give Ben a tour of La Push and just try to take it easy?" He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and turned her for home. "You haven't been here in ages- surely there's something you'd like to do?"

"Ben has been kidnapped by our brother in law." She complained. "I haven't seen them in hours, and I wouldn't even know where to start looking." Jake grinned.

"It's a good thing I'm here, so- I know exactly where Paul is." He separated from her and bounced back up the steps to the doors, closing and locking them behind him. "And I have exactly two hours before school lets out and the guys come to find me and make sure I'm not asleep somewhere, drowning in my grief." There was a part of him that wanted to be, but he forced it into a joke and his sister smiled.

"I never saw you as the drowning type Jake. More the floundering aimlessly type." He ignored the sting in her words, the inadvertent reference to the fight the day before, and led her home and to the rabbit. They didn't speak much on the walk home or on the drive to the beach afterward. Becca didn't know what to say, and Jacob's mind was filled with other things.

The sight they saw at the beach surprised even Jake- he'd known where Paul was, but he'd had no idea what he was _doing._ There was a surfboard, discarded on the sand as the tide receded, evidence of earlier activity. But it was the sight of Paul showing Ben how to fish from the rocks at the cliff edge, using Billy's old equipment- years old, things that had been in the garage for more than a decade, because Billy couldn't fish off the rocks after the accident, obviously- that made his heart clench, suddenly. Not in a bad way- he was glad that Ben and Paul were getting along; laughing and having a good time. It was good for Rachel and Becca that they were friendly, but it was the sight of it- so reminiscent of all the times Jake had seen Charlie and his dad fishing together. It meant, suddenly, that he couldn't approach them. He couldn't even think about it. He pointed them out to Becca- she hadn't even seen them yet, at that distance- and left her the keys to the car, promising to see her later, for dinner maybe? She watched, confused, as he took off toward the woods at a run. What had just happened? The two specks in the distance that he promised her were Paul and her husband were waving, so she supposed he was correct. A heavy leaden feeling settled in her stomach as she thought that her brother, who had once loved to hang around with her, was so eager to get away from him now that he was giving her his car and running away. How was she going to fix this?

* * *

He waited 'till he hit the treeline to phase, strapping his shorts to his ankle, but leaving his shirt with his shoes. He'd come back for them later. Jared was out there, running Leah's patrol, and beyond an initial greeting, he left Jake alone. It didn't surprise him much when his feet ran the well-trod path to the Cullen house, but he didn't go in. He ran around, doing the cursory patrol of the house- nothing new, in any case- before dropping to the ground just inside the treeline. He knew they'd know he was there, of course, but his anger- so heavy only days before- was weighted down now by grief. He focused on the forest, letting Jared's thoughts spill into him and over him and distract him.

It wasn't long before one of the Cullen's approached him- it wasn't a surprise. What was surprising was that it was Emmett, not Jasper or Alice, who came to meet him.

"Hey Jake." He'd never had a problem with Emmett, but they'd never been close friends, either. "Esme wants to know if you're hungry. She's been baking all morning, hoping you'd come visit." He'd liked Esme. She reminded him of Sue Clearwater; of his own mother, even. He raised his wolf-eyes to meet Emmett's, and shook his head. _No._

"That's what I told her you'd say. But if you change your mind, dude, the offer's open." Jake wasn't sure which of them was more surprised when Emmett dropped onto the ground next to him, ruining his designer trousers with moss and mud. He sat there in silence for a time, staring into space.

"I'm sorry, Jake. For your dad. Rose and I are both really, really sorry." Jake raised his head from his paws, considering the Vampire carefully. After what seemed like an age, he dipped his head once, dropping it back to his paws- a tacit acceptance. "I remember being human, just barely, you know? It's like a dream or something, if I could still have those. But I remember… I know it wasn't long before I died that I lost my father and my brother in an accident. I don't talk about it much, but I still remember the pain of that- like nothing I've experienced since. Just the overwhelming wrongness of it." He took a deep, unnecessary breath. "I know I never talked to anyone about it- there was no-one to talk to, I think. I was the last one, and I didn't know what to do, on my own. I didn't know how to be." He glanced down to see Jake staring at him, intent. "Which is why, I think, I ended up alone in the woods, letting a bear get the best of me. It's why Rose and I connected so quickly- we both know what it feels like to not know how to go on." He looked away. "We both wish that we'd been able to try again, as a human, because we kind of remember what we lost."

He fell silent again, staring off into the distance with a melancholy look on his face that Jake didn't remember ever seeing on Emmett before now.

"I want to say sorry, too, for being a dick this past year. Rose and I… we didn't like the imprint thing with Nessie. She's the closest we'll ever come to having a child and, dude, imprinting on a kid is a bit _sick_. So I was a dick, and she was a bitch, because we didn't know how else to be. And now… now, it turns out that you did nothing; that Ness was the one at fault and… well, we owe you an apology. _I_ owe you an apology. So I'm sorry." He didn't see Jake phase, but one minute the wolf was at his feet and the next, a naked Quileute.

"I'm sorry about your family." Jake offered, pulling on his pants and sitting down next to the Vampire.

"Thank you." It was weird, but Emmett really sounded like he meant it. It kind of threw Jake for a loop.

"I don't blame Ness, you know. She was looking out for herself- I get that." Jake paused, scraping dirt out from under his fingernails. "Plus, she inherited the creepy possessive genes from both sides. We shouldn't be too surprised." Emmett laughed, even though it felt a little disloyal, it was still both funny and true.

"Why didn't you come in? Ness would love to see you. She wanted to come out, but Edward didn't think it was safe."

"Yeah, well Edward's a douche." Jake grumbled. Hadn't he proven he wouldn't hurt the child? What more did the Vampire want from him? "Honestly, I wasn't sure I would even be welcome anymore, but… I needed to get away and I don't have anywhere else to go." If Emmett was shocked to hear Jake's voice crack, he didn't show it. "I don't know how to do this, you know? I don't know how to be the guy that everyone turns to. I can't… I don't-" He swiped his hand across his face in an angry gesture, and Emmett ignored the scent of tears in the air. "I want to go home and just sleep for days but I can't because Becca's there and she doesn't know about any of this" He gestured to himself and, vaguely, into the woods, "And I can't keep putting everything on Lee because it's just not fair to her. Seth and the guys… they've been great, they really have but they're there, all the time, and I can't get away from it and it's just this constant reminder of all the things I have to _be_ now." He took a deep shuddering breath, biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. "And then, there's this place inside of me where Nessie used to be and I don't want it back, I don't, but god it hurts that it's gone." He drew his knees up to his chin, curling in on himself, ducking his head onto his knees. The only sign of his grief was the faint scent of tears and the deep, shuddering breaths he took.

Emmett, looking at him clearly for the first time in a long time, didn't see the werewolf who'd stood with them against the Volturi, or the wolf who'd ripped the newborns to pieces. He saw the kid whose life his family had torn apart and turned upside down and whose father had just died and left him with an entire _people_ depending on him. Slowly, unsure of what the right thing to do was, he reached out with one hand and clasped the boy's shoulder firmly, squeezing just enough so that Jake would know he was trying. Jake was trembling under his hand, burning hot and shivering at the same time.

"For what it's worth, Jake, I can't think of anyone who's more capable of coping with this, than you."

He would never know if the words helped, or if Jake even heard him speak, but eventually the shaking calmed and the scent of salt in the air faded.

"Wanna go play Wii Bowling and tell blonde jokes?" Under his hand, he felt Jake laugh and saw him nod slowly.

"I have some time. But you have to promise to protect me when your crazy wife goes for weapons. I'm a fragile, delicate flower." Emmett laughed, jumping lightly to his feet and offering his hand to Jake, to hoist him up.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure that's what Leah likes most about you." The Vampire grinned. "Seriously? Next time, shower before coming over here. It's bad enough when it's just normal werewolf stink, but werewolf sex stink? It's a factor of ten worse." Jake shrugged, strolling toward the house.

"You're just jealous because you can't have me. Its okay- I understand, but Leah doesn't like to share." He flashed a grin back at the Vampire's stunned expression. "Thanks, Emmett."

* * *

A/N: I found this really difficult to write, for some reason. :(


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, and apologies for the delay in getting this out. Enjoy. :)

* * *

Leah sighed deeply, letting the door slam behind her as she left Old Quil's house. He'd looked at her as if she were a simpleton- Jesus, as if she were _Embry_- when she'd asked him what he knew about AIM and if he'd ever met Marianne Ward. He told her that of course he'd met her and she'd been at the funeral the day before. The conversation had only gone downhill from there, but really just ended with the fact that he knew nothing about her, or AIM, and that Billy had always been the one to deal with the 'Organisations'. It worried her, a little, that he'd referred to the 'Organizations' just like the mobsters in movies spoke about 'the family'. In any case, Billy was the go-to for all their shit, and Quil was under the impression that any paperwork or whatever would be at the Black house.

Leah was pretty sure Jake would have mentioned it earlier if he'd ever found a top-secret notebook lying around with 'Important Secrets of Native Tribes' written across the front. She snarled. Even in her head her sense of humour was dying. Was it wrong that all she wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep? Preferably with Jake wrapped around her, but she'd settle for alone if it meant she could get a solid eight hours. The boys would be finished with school soon, she knew, and they were intending on meeting up at her house for homework and food. Food, which was going to be leftover funeral sandwiches because she'd spent her afternoon corrupting her Alpha and therefore hadn't done any grocery shopping. Nor had she done her college assignment. Or her patrol. This meant she would have to leave the boys alone in her house so she could run Jared's patrols later. Le sigh. Standing on Quil's porch, she gazed across what she could see of the res and, on instinct, scanned the skies a couple of times too. There were clouds, but not much else. Which normally meant rain was coming. The funny thing was that, any other day, the lack of information and the lack of food and of assignments and all that other crap, would have left her pissed off and ready to snap at the closest available person. But today? She couldn't even bring herself to be truly angry at the crazy woman from AIM. Anytime she even thought about it; anytime the anger started to rise, she found her hands drifting to the already-healed mark on her neck and then she couldn't stop the stupid grin from spreading across her face. She felt more relaxed than she had since Sam had first disappeared and phased, and she was even pretty sure that her revelation earlier had been accurate. A part of her regretted the loss of the last few years to anger and frustration. A larger part of her was completely relieved that this development with Jake had waited until he was legal. Cradle snatcher she might be, but she was definitely _not_ a paedophile.

She stood there for another moment, until Old Quil shouted at her, cranky, to get the hell off his porch or come back inside. She flipped him off- even though, or maybe because, he couldn't see her- and ambled slowly down the steps and in the direction of her house. She needed to shower and change before Seth saw her- he'd freak out if he could smell her now. Hell, she was kinda freaking out, and she couldn't be happier about how she smelled. But it wouldn't be fair to let her little brother find out that she'd mated with his best friend- or mated to? She wasn't sure of the grammar of it. But she could feel the change, deep in her bones and pounding in her blood. She wasn't Beta anymore, or maybe she still was, but it was different now- she was Alpha female. Okay, she was twenty one, dirt poor and suddenly practically married to a teenager, but the realities of it didn't even matter- he loved her. She could feel that too, the constant warmth in her chest that told her where Jake was. She was unsurprised to realise that he was at the Cullen house- he'd told her he was thinking of visiting. She was halfway home when the warmth in her chest burned suddenly, sending out such a strong wave of grief that she almost fell to her knees in the middle of the street. It stopped her dead, unable to move forward, rooted to the spot by the_ pain _of it. She knew the feeling- she still felt it, some days, for her own father. Part of her wanted to go to him, to be a comfort or whatever. But that was her human side. Her wolf side just, kinda, accepted it and moved on- not that it wasn't important, no, but that her mate was a big boy, capable of coming to her if he needed her and she wasn't going to run after him. That attitude appealed to Leah, but still… she couldn't squash the feeling of guilt. It was to her great relief, then, that the pain eased a few short minutes later, lessening enough that she could move forward again, jogging to make up for lost time. Although a part of her was thrilled to have a reminder of Jake, wrapped up around her heart, she was pretty sure she'd have to get some control over the effect it had on her, if it was likely to stop her in her tracks very often. She'd have to ask him if he could feel her in the same way, too. Just out of curiosity.

She showered and changed in the empty house, and threw her clothes in the washer, too, just to be safe. She knew how keen her brother's nose was; never mind the rest of them. It was early, still- she had more than an hour before her brother and the rest would be arriving back. Sighing quietly, she dragged out her college books and decided she should at least try to get some work done- correspondence courses may have left her with a bit more leeway when it came to class times and study times, but she still actually had to do the work. This particular assignment was for her Legal studies class and, while it may bore her to tears, there was a part of her that remembered being a kid and wanting to grow up to be a lawyer. Just because she was trapped here, on the res now, didn't mean she wouldn't at least try.

She didn't get very far in the hour before her Pack arrived, but she was kinda satisfied that at least she'd done something; made a start. She felt the boys heading in her direction long before they actually got to the door- about half had phased, and half were running in human form. Seth, unsurprisingly, arrived first- he was the fastest of the younger wolves, taking after his sister that way. He'd phased, carrying his book bag in his teeth. Leah was just glad that their backyard opened onto the woods, because there's no way in hell they'd have kept this wolf thing a secret if they lived closer to the town- like Embry's mom, who lived in a row of tiny houses all closed in on top of one another. Hence, Embry pretty much didn't live there anymore. He slept there, sometimes. But Leah was pretty sure he'd probably be moving in with Jake, when Becca left. There'd be three of them there, then- Jake, Paul and Embry. If someone had suggested it even a week ago, she'd have laughed herself sick- no way would they be able to live together. But now? Now, the suggestion seemed almost normal. Jake had the space; Embry needed to move out. Secretly, she thought Quil would probably want to move in, too- but his grandfather needed him more than he would ever admit to. It made Leah's heart clench to think that Old Quil's time was running short, too. Soon, very soon given his ashen face and tired eyes, there would be none of the original council members left. Quil, of course, would be taking his place in the end. She hoped it wouldn't be too soon. She hoped her mother wouldn't decide to step down when Jacob finished school- if Sue thought Leah was doing a good job at it, she might decide to do just that; step down and let her daughter take Harry's place. It should maybe have been Seth, but Sue would know that Seth wasn't ready for it. Besides, if Leah had anything to say about it, Seth would be going to college- Mount Rainier Community College if he had to, but definitely college. He was smart; really, really smart. There had to be a way for the boys to get their educations, too, and still be Protectors. There were enough of them, now- the younger boys could cover patrols while the older ones were away at college. And Mount Rainier wasn't too far away- they could come home at the weekends.

She made a point of not considering the same for herself- she was more tied here, now, than she'd ever been, but couldn't bring herself to be bitter about it, seeing as she had what she'd been wanting for years. It wasn't even just her wolf half that was happy here, anymore. Sure, the circumstances sucked, but she was back on track- she was busy; she was back in school; she had friends around her again. She had the Pack. Even without Jake… she'd still belong here. She couldn't deny that any longer. La Push was her home and, sure, someday she'd love to see the world. But La Push would still be her home. She was kind of grateful, for once, for that.

Seth ambled into the sitting room, breaking her from her thoughts, and demanding food and earning a smack across the back of his head for his tone. The five younger boys were trailing after Quil and Embry, seemingly uncomfortable in her house for the first few minutes. She knew it was their first time there- they'd always been hanging around Sam's house, before now. That was fine- she didn't care if they felt uncomfortable. They'd just have to get used to the new routine, pronto. Seth fed them- moving the trays of sandwiches from the fridge to the table and rounding up a couple of bags of chips to go with them. She just sat back, happy to watch them eat and asked the occasional question about school, or whatever.

She noticed the moment they realized that Jared, Sam and Paul were on their way. It was interesting, the way Timmy's eyes narrowed and Brady's head tilted to the side a little. She'd have to ask them all, later, what exactly it was that they were feeling or hearing or whatever, when they sensed it. She wasn't sure, but she thought it might be different for all of them. They moved outside to the back porch and the yard- there was absolutely no space left in her house for that many people; not when all of them were huge and kinda awkward in human form. Sam eyed her, curious- he noticed the mark on her neck, but she was pretty sure he just thought it was a hickey. The others, if they'd noticed, hadn't said a word. Even Paul, who'd normally love the chance to tease her about anything, kept quiet. She met Sam's gaze evenly, refusing to answer his unasked question.

About ten minutes after Sam showed up, during which Seth led a round of fighting over which games console was the best and Paul told them all about Becca's husband and why he wasn't a complete dipshit, Jacob finally arrived. He strode out of the forest, completely unconcerned by his surroundings. In fact, he was acting as if he owned the entire place- the forest; her house and yard; the entire res. She shook herself, a little, when she realized that the commanding possessive vibe really turned her on. The scent of Vampire clung to him, burning her nose from a distance. She saw the reaction on the faces of the younger wolves- distaste; disgust. Whatever. They'd deal.

She was sitting on the top step of her back porch, alone. Seth was a step below her, lounging, and Sam was sitting off to the side, leaning back against the house. She wasn't too surprised when Jake collapsed on the top step next to her. She had, kinda, been surprised when he'd taken the time to reach out to each of the boys on his way past, touching them each gently on the shoulder. It seemed as if he'd learned something from their behaviour the day before. She bit back a laugh at the thought that it was about time he learned something.

He didn't even have to ask if she'd told them anything- he knew she hadn't. How he knew, he wasn't sure, but all the same, he did.

"There's something freaky going on with that AIM woman. She showed up at the centre this afternoon, trying to get me to sign up for some bullshit AIM marketing campaign. If any of you seen her- if you so much as catch a sniff of her, anywhere, I want to know straight away, okay?" He didn't even consider using the Alpha tone. He didn't need to- even Sam nodded.

"Right. Good. We have to get some new patrols organized soon, too. I don't want anyone out there alone, ever, from now on. Call me paranoid if you want but I have a feeling that something is going to happen." He made a face. "I haven't got a clue what, but something, so everyone: keep your eyes and ears open, okay? Anything strange or weird or just, whatever, come and tell me." He rubbed his hands briefly across his face, trying to clear the tiredness. Leah was pretty sure he'd been crying.

He glanced at the younger boys, gathered at the bottom of the steps in a huddle.

"I'll be back in school on Monday- and I swear, if I hear a single word about one of you not having homework done or some shit, then you'll be in serious shit. I know its hard; patrolling and school and all the rest, but you have to make time to get it done, okay? It's important." For several reasons- so that they'd all have a decent education to fall back on and so that the school wouldn't ever believe that Jake was leading the younger boys astray. It was unlikely, but he needed to make sure they kept working at it. They all grumbled their agreements, sounded completely unhappy with it. But they agreed, and that would have to be enough.

"The other thing I wanted to tell you guys is that…" His voice kind of drifted off, and he glanced over at Leah, quickly, before glancing around at the rest. "Lee and I have, uh, started seeing each other." Seriously? _Seeing each other?_ That was the best he could come up with? She rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress the grin that crept across her face. "And I know that might be weird for some of you, but you're gonna have to suck it up, because that's just the way it is. Besides, she's always been the Top Bitch; now, it's just official." There were some relieved chuckles and a couple of outright laughs. No-one seemed too surprised, although Seth did tense a little, his shoulders tightening and his grip on the step hardening. Leah was watching her brother closely, so she didn't really even see Sam move, standing up staring at them with anger and hurt written across his face.

"What the fuck, Jacob? Your imprint broke _two days ago_, and you've already moved on?" He sounded incredulous. Jake didn't even blink. His imprint was a completely non-issue with him when it came to Leah.

"Yeah." He just agreed. It was pretty accurate, really. The other man snarled, his face twisting into an angry scowl, and he took a step forward. It must have looked threatening, because the growls rose around him, even as some of the other jumped to their feet, placing themselves between their former Alpha and their current. "If you have something to say Sam, just say it." Somewhere, dimly, in the back of his mind, Jake was pretty sure that his calm tone was just infuriating Sam even more. But he was pretty sure he didn't care- Sam had shit to get out of his system, right? Well, now was his chance and they could just deal with it and move the fuck on afterward. Paul and Jared, always Sam's biggest supporters, hadn't moved. They were sitting where they had been, watching Sam with incredulous eyes. It was a good sign- it meant it was only Sam he needed to bring to heel, and not all three.

Sam's eyes were blazing, and he looked furious, suddenly.

"You can't do this Jacob. It's not _right_. Your imprint was the centre of your world- she deserves more respect that you to just move on because Leah's _willing._" He nearly spat the words, and the growls around him increased. Jacob didn't even move and Leah, next to him, trembled a little and then forced herself to remain seated. Seth moved, joining the others in the yard leaving Jake and Leah sitting on the steps alone, like some fucked up royal court. Everyone else was standing now, half-circled around Sam but watching Jake for their cues.

"So now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that Leah's taking my place on the council until I finish school?" His voice was flat; completely devoid of emotion. Leah allowed herself a tiny grin. Sam growled, loudly, from deep in his chest and he took a step forward angrily.

"How can you disrespect your elders like that? How can you disrespect your father's _memory_ like that?" The only thing that kept Sam's head on his shoulders at that was that Jake knew- he _knew_ how much Sam had loved Billy. How much Sam had wished that Billy was his father, too. Even how Sam had secretly hoped that Billy was _Embry's_ father, so that the other boy wouldn't have to deal with the shit that came from Joshua Uley being a complete dickhead. The wolf stuff had overcome Sam; completely overwhelmed him and he'd had no support dealing with it. He was forced into the role of leader when it wasn't quite right for him. No, Sam was an enforcer- he should never have been Alpha. Jake could see that, clearly. And add in the Leah factor, and how he still half-believed that she loved him and that she was his for the taking if he wanted her and voila: Sam Uley, growling and baring his teeth and looking for all intents and purposes three seconds from phasing and ripping Jake's head off.

"It's not disrespect Sam. It could never be, with Leah. My imprint-" They silenced, suddenly, curiosity overcoming nerves, "was never going to last. Not after my dad died. My life is here; not wherever the Cullens decide they want to go next." Jake took a deep breathe, glanced once at Leah, and then raised his eyes to meet Sam's sullen glare. "You offered me the position of Alpha once, do you remember? When I was newly changed." They _all_ remembered, even the ones who hadn't been wolves at the time. Sam nodded once. He remembered. "I could have accepted it then, Sam. Maybe I should have. It would have saved us all a lot of heartache." When he stood up, the pack stepped backwards a step, all but Sam. "But you have to realize, Sam, that the role was never yours to _give._ It was mine to _take._ It always was." There was a slight fierceness to his voice that Sam had never heard before. Not in human form, anyway. "And now I have taken it, and it is not your place to question that."

And Jake knew- he just _knew_- that this mess was mostly his fault. Sam was used to leading, now, even though he never should have had to. His wolf was twisted and forced into a position it had never wanted. He'd thought, maybe, that it would have been enough to accept the submission of the human man. But it was becoming clear that he needed the wolf to submit too. Or maybe… maybe the wolf had already submitted, and it was the man who needed to bend? The lines had blurred, and Jake couldn't tell anymore. He wasn't too surprised when Sam phased. He wasn't even surprised when the wolf lunged for him, teeth bared and claws extended.

But it wasn't Jake who met him, mid-lunge. He hadn't even moved- still stood, his arms crossed over his chest, on the bottom step. The wolf that had leapt past him to meet Sam in midair was smaller, grey, and far faster than him. And she pinned the large male to the ground despite the difference in size- the difference made up for by the fact that her teeth were at his throat and every single one of them knew she could- and would- rip his throat out.

"If you think Leah is undeserving, Sam, then you'll have to fight her about it." He grinned, just a little. "If you think you're the better man for her, then you'll have to convince _her_ of that." The others glanced at him, just for a second, various expressions of shock and confusion in their eyes. Jake stepped down, toward the two wolves. "Because that's what this is _really_ about, Sam, and don't think I don't know it. You want her. Of course you do- you've been playing at being Alpha for so long that you think you're entitled to her, and she was yours, once." Jake dropped into a crouch, meeting Sam's frozen glare with his own human one. He traced one hand across Leah's back and some of the tension in her frame loosened. "But you imprinted, Sam, to stop you from going that far- to stop you from claiming her as your mate, on top of claiming my birthright. She might have let you, otherwise, before I changed for the first time. We both know that." He paused and stood up again. "And I imprinted, because there couldn't be two Alphas, could there?" Even in the middle of all this, he remembered his lie, "But mine has broken because it was never meant to last. That's why it doesn't hurt, Sam, and why I'm not grieving the loss. Because I was never meant to be tied to anyone but Leah, and she was never going to touch me while I was _underage_." It was lies and half-truths, about him anyway, but it mostly made sense. He'd had some time to think about it. And he could see Sam thinking about it. "I should never have let this go on for so long."

He stood up again, releasing his grip on Leah- Seth realized, finally, that he'd been holding her back, not soothing her or some such shit- and throwing himself back onto the steps, alone this time.

"You have a choice. You can submit, and be happy being my enforcer the way you were meant to be, or Leah can _make_ you submit, and you'll have to earn back every scrap." Leah's eyes brightened and she snarled, loosing her grip on his throat and stepping back, allowing him to stand. Her teeth were bared and her hackles raised, and she was ready to pounce. She'd been calm; ignored Sam's chaotic thoughts and pleas while she'd had him pinned. But Jake had let her loose, now, and it was her turn to play with Sam.

_What's it gonna be Sam? Are you gonna let me make you my bitch?_ And not in the fun way. She couldn't help but leak the barest memory of Jake, his teeth in her neck and his cock inside of her, and she snarled- furious that he thought he could take that away from her. She'd fight for it, tooth and nail, or whatever and she'd rip him to pieces if it meant she got it. And she really, really, wanted to. She watched him roll to his feet, shooting a glare at Jake before turning his attention to her.

_You really want to fight me, Leah?_ His voice was different- a barely controlled vein of tension in her head. He tried to get to her, showing her pictures of Emily, writhing beneath him, but they didn't hurt her anymore. She just didn't care, anymore. The place he'd occupied in her heart was filled with something new; something stronger that what they had had, so many years ago.

_Yeah, Sam. I really, really want to kick your ass._ And he lunged, striking out with one paw to catch the side of her head. He missed his target, because she was already moving, but he did graze her side a little, the shock of pain dragging her back to reality. He was in, and the game was on. She couldn't hold back a wolfish grin. She'd been waiting for this for a long, long time. She didn't wait for him to attack again, darting in and under him, slicing across his belly with her claws before dashing off again, widening their circle. He'd hurt her, yeah, but first blood was to Clearwater. His thoughts in her head were completely enraged; incomprehensible. That was okay, too. She watched his body language, saw him adjust for his injury and lunge at her again, same as the first time. He'd learned, though, twisting himself at the last second and grabbing at her back with his teeth as she dodged. His grip wasn't tight though, and she broke free, snapping and snarling and dancing back at him, biting and clawing at his face and eyes. He retreated, growling, before diving for her again, all brawn and no elegance. The fight went on, a swirl of grey and black and flashing teeth. There were injuries on both sides- bites and tears and, once, Leah caught the full force of one of his claws and went flying, smacking off the side of her own house. Jake raised an eyebrow at her, his face calm. Inside, he was raging; fighting down the wolf and the man who demanded that they grab hold of Sam and rip his heart out. But he knew this was Leah's fight, and she'd kill him if he interfered.

She shook off the injury, ignoring the pain in her hind leg and decided it was time to finish this; to stop dancing around him and actually go for the throat. She took the offensive, a blur of movement that Jake struggled to follow. She darted around the black wolf, biting and scratching and clawing at him, wearing him down until he stumbled a little and gave her the opening she needed- darting in close, she leapt up, caught him by the throat and twisted, forcing his body to the ground under her, similar to how they'd started- the difference, this time, being that the grip she had was firm and she had no intention of letting go.

_Are you done? _She forced out, past the screaming in her blood to yank out his throat and watch him bleed. She bit tighter, feeling his body relaxing under her, but his thoughts were confused; hectic. The wolf subsided, gradually, in him, but she didn't loosen her grip despite the sudden ache in her jaw. He phased back, suddenly- crazily; because she could have easily killed him in human form- and her teeth were still at his throat. She let go, and he fell to the ground, bloody; bruised and naked.

She stood over her and growled, once, before turning her back on him and bounding up the steps, past Jake who didn't even glance at her, to her room to phase and get dressed again.

"That's it- shows over. Paul, you're third. Quil, Seth, Michael, go run the borders. Everyone else- go home. Get your homework done, or whatever. I'll take patrol in two hours, with Embry and Colin."

They scattered, in groups, all save Sam who was lying prone on the ground. Paul glanced back once, confusion in his eyes, but he kept going- he knew enough to know he wasn't needed for whatever was coming next.

Leah emerged again as they were leaving, sitting next to Jake and pressing her body close to his, ignoring the scent of Vampire. He pulled her in, tight to him.

"That was epic, Lee." There were bruises forming, angry purple marks on her face and arms, and he ignored them. If he didn't, then he'd finish what she started and actually kill his former Alpha. She pressed her lips to his throat, briefly, and handed him some of Seth's pants for Sam.

"Get him out of my yard, please." And she disappeared again, inside. He couldn't follow her- he couldn't even look at her, because he knew that he'd just drag her upstairs and spend the evening buried as far inside her as he could go.

Instead, he helped Sam get dressed and bundled him into Paul's truck.

* * *

She left the lamp on in the corner of her room when she curled up, finally, to go to sleep. It was late- everyone had long since gone home, and Seth had come home and was already asleep. She tidied her books away on her desk, turned off the overhead light and switched on the lamp. It cast a warm, orangey glow that she liked. She'd taken Jared's patrol, so she was only just home herself- Paul and Tim were out there now. They really needed to get that organized again; get the patrols running smoothly. For now, she was tired, and she didn't care.

She was sound asleep, curled up in the fetal position on the edge of her bed, when the door creaked open slowly and Jake padded into the room. The scent of Vampire was gone; replaced by the smell of clean clothing and soap. He didn't wake her, just shucked off his shirt and shoes and eased himself onto the bed behind her, wrapping his arms tightly around her from behind and burying his nose in her hair and neck, breathing deeply. The bite had healed completely, leaving a scar behind that looked nothing like a Vampire bite. He could see it clearly in the dim lighting; recognized his own mark on her and he hardened at the memory. She was sleeping though and in her sleep, she looked entirely peaceful; completely at ease. The bruises on her face and arms were fading, for which he was eternally grateful- he really didn't want to have to listen to Sue Clearwater lecture him on why Leah shouldn't be allowed (Hah! As if she needed his _permission _for anything) to fight or scrap with the others. It wasn't worth it- Leah would still fight, and Sue would complain, but there was nothing he could do about any of it. Especially since the sight of Leah, handing Sam his ass on a platter, was one of the _hottest_ things he'd ever seen. Why would he ruin that for himself? He'd driven Sam home; left him with Emily. He knew that the other man was in far worse a condition, and the thought made him smile, his lips curving where they met her skin and he kissed her, gently.

"If you don't stop that, I'm going to make you regret it." She muttered, under her breath with exhausted eyes. He breathed on her, warm air tickling across her skin as he chucked.

"I love you too, Lee. Go back to sleep." His evening had been awkward- Emily had glared at him with accusatory eyes, then he'd patrolled in somewhat awkward silence with Embry and Colin who didn't really seem to know what to say to him, now. And then, to top it all off, he'd endured a painful evening's dinner with Rachel, Paul, Rebecca and Ben. Paul and Ben kept the conversation going, thankfully, and allowed him to eat in silence. Paul, it seemed, was taking his new responsibility very seriously, and Rachel was so _proud_ of him that she couldn't stop grinning. As a result, anytime Becca asked anything Jake didn't want to answer, either Paul or Rachel would divert her attention and avert the inevitable fight. It was tense, and horrible, but he was kind of delighted to realize that Paul had been an excellent choice for third.

* * *

She did sleep again, feeling rested and delighted when she woke in the morning, Jacob wrapped around her like a… well, she didn't know what. She just knew she liked it. His left leg was between hers, and he was laying half on top of her, snoring with a rattling breath. She had slept better than she had for months- years, maybe- and she knew it was down to him. She could get used to waking up like this, too. She squirmed, a little, aiming for a better position under him, her mouth seeking his neck and her hands finding the button on his jeans. It didn't take him long to wake up, after that.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight.

A/N: Apologies for the delay. I've been agonizing over this one. :(

* * *

They decided, while still in bed that morning, that they'd go through Billy's things that day. It was Saturday, so he wasn't in school and she wasn't working. He had lined up some work, but it was nothing he couldn't put off to the following day. Seth, the poor kid, had run out of the house somewhere during round two, earlier. She couldn't bring herself to feel any guilt; not when she was lying curled up with Jake in her bed, like she'd been dreaming about for a year. She'd speak to Seth later. They spent the early hours of the morning curled up, talking in low tones about everything; her fight with Sam; his conversation with Emmett; the changes in the Pack. There was so much to say and so many unanswered questions that, eventually, Leah decided they needed to _do_ something and not just talk about it. They showered- separately- and got dressed, walking slowly to the Black house. They got there early, when Becca and Ben were still sleeping. Rachel was up, reading the newspaper, and Paul was out, running patrol. He'd volunteered, which Leah was still kind of amazed by. Jake had been right to pick him- a little responsibility seemed to be all he needed to get himself sorted out.

"Morning Rachel." Leah offered, ducking her head around the door to the kitchen. "How you doing today?" Rachel smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She looked tired.

"I'm okay, I guess. I didn't sleep well, though." She stood up, following the she-wolf back into the living room, where Jake was standing, staring at their Dad's desk and wondering where to start.

"Do you need help, Jake?" He glanced over his shoulder at her and nodded slowly.

"I'm not even sure where to start." They kept their voices low, and Leah quickly filled Rachel in on what they were looking for. It didn't take long to sort through the mounds of paperwork, quickly organizing it into piles. Jake took all the council stuff and shoved it into an old backpack, hiding it under the couch to take away with him later- and just in time, too, as Becca emerged from his bedroom with Ben in tow.

"Morning guys. Jake, Leah- when did you guys get here?" Rachel had filled her in the night before on the suddenly-not-a-secret relationship between her brother and her old friend. It freaked her out, a bit, but she didn't think anything she said would make a difference. They looked kinda sweet together, in any case. Like a messed up advertisement for Native Pride- all tall and tan and gorgeous. Add that to the kinda scary air of confidence they were both carrying, and Becca really had to admit that they were perfect for one another. That said, as soon as she had the chance, she'd be teasing them about it.

"About an hour ago." Jake gestured to the papers, scattered across the floor. "We needed to go through Dad's things and make sure there are no surprise expenses hiding in there." Becca nodded, biting her lip to hold back her hurt that they hadn't waited for her. She understood, of course, that their concerns weren't exactly the same as hers. But understanding something and feeling it aren't quite the same thing.

"Have you had breakfast? I was thinking about making pancakes?" Maybe she was trying to bribe them with food, but something had to work, right? Had to bring them back to her the way they'd been as kids.

And it sort of did- they all agreed, at least, that they'd eat her pancakes, and she chose to see it as a positive start. Unfortunately, it left her in the kitchen alone and the rest in the living room. She hadn't thought that far ahead when she'd made her offer. It didn't take long, though, and they sat in comfortable silence at the kitchen table. Paul had arrived back, ambling in the back door, shoeless and shirtless, and slotting himself onto Rachel's stool behind her. Jake didn't even blink at it, although it was something that would have driven him up the wall only a week before. Besides, there were only five chairs at the table, and no way would Leah sit on his lap like Rachel did Paul. He bit back a grin at the thought that Leah might let _him_ sit on _her_ lap. He met her eyes across the table and she raised an eyebrow at him, amused, and he knew she was thinking something similar.

"What is with you guys wandering around with no clothes on all the time?" Ben asked. Becca had blushed a little at the sight of Paul, and averted her eyes. She loved her husband, very much, but… damn. All eyes turned to Ben at that- they hadn't even noticed. Rachel actually glanced behind her to check and, sure enough, Paul was half-naked in her kitchen.

"Its part of our attempt to revive the old ways- traditionally, Quileute men wore no clothing at all unless there was snow on the ground." Rachel grinned; smugly it seemed, at her fiancee's words.

"And let me tell you Becks, there are _very_ few women in La Push complaining." Both herself and Leah broke into laughter and even Becca grinned, ignoring her husband's scandalized glare. Paul and Jake just shrugged, and kept eating.

"What does this 'revival' I've been hearing so much about comprise of, exactly? Because apart from Paul wearing no shirt, I have yet to see any evidence." Darn. Sometimes Rachel forgot her sister was smart. Luckily, her brother was, too.

"Well, the drumming at Dad's funeral was one way- that hasn't happened in years. And Old Quil has been sharing our legends, passing them down to Quil and the rest of us, so that when he dies, our history will be remembered. Quil will be taking his place as record-keeper, of course. And we spend a lot of time in the wilderness, reconnecting with the earth and air that keeps us." It sounded just a little pretentious and out-there for the girl who'd been living in civilization for years.

"Seriously? You're all going back-to-nature? What's the next cliché? Spirit quests and shamanic visions?" There was a thread of incredulity and disbelief in Becca's voice that Leah took exception to. Sure, Jake was mostly lying and covering their tracks- but seriously? They were shape-shifters, and the sage thing had freaked out the Vampires, so she wasn't ready to discount the rest of their legends.

"Jake's Spirit Quest will be before the election, actually- so, sometime next weekend, I suppose. And I suppose I'll have to do one, too, because I'll be joining the council while he's in school." She glanced sideways at Rachel, winking. "We'll need to order in some Peyote, because it hasn't been grown around here in years. I think Emily knows the guy in Makah that grows it. Can you ask her?" Rachel's eyes widened, just a little, but she nodded. Becca and Ben looked kind of stunned.

"Seriously? Are you shitting me?" Jake went back to his pancakes, and Leah left Rachel to answer.

"Um, kinda? Well. No, not really. I mean, Jake's gonna be chief and we all know that means a Spirit Quest. Dad did one too, years ago, when he became chief. I think he did more than one, actually- didn't he?" Jake nodded, agreeing.

"He took one after Mom died." He finished his food and lifted his glass, "It's not that big a deal, Becks. If you want to take one, you're welcome to." He thought her head might explode at the idea. He made it want to grin, which he knew was juvenile and petty, but… meh. He didn't care.

"You guys can't really believe all that crap, can you? I mean, a revival is one thing, but… spirit quests? Peyote? Are you really going to perpetuate this cycle of idiocy that is keeping you stuck in this stupid town?" Ben, sitting next to her, recognized the tension her words were creating and reached out a hand, silently asking her to be quiet. Unsurprisingly, she ignored him. "I don't get it- you guys are all pretty smart, and you've all been through school. Rachel- you've been to _college_ and have a minor in _biology_. Surely you know this is all just… myth and fairytale?" There was real heat in her voice; genuine disbelief.

"Well sure, if you're not open to it, it might look like crap. But isn't it enough that we believe in it? What does it matter to you?" It was Paul who spoke, and the matching grins on Leah and Jake's faces meant nothing to the second Black sister. Rachel, however, saw them and grinned broadly herself.

Becca was working herself up to a rant when her husband tried again, grabbing her hand this time and directing her attention to him.

"Let it go Becks. You don't rant at my Mom when she goes on and on about Fa'a Samoa and how her Matai was so upset when she left the island. Take a breath; let it go." She flushed dark at his words, recognizing them as the truth. Even after years of marriage, her husband's culture still fascinated her, but her own? She bit her lip, embarrassed. She was embarrassed by it. She hated this town and everything it stood for, and he _knew_ that. She'd told him as much. An awkward silence followed his words, and Jake finally took pity on his sister, and asked Ben about Samoa.

His mom had moved him and his sister to Hawaii when he was ten, following the love of her life (not his father) and had spent the years following wishing she was back home. He kinda thought she'd move home, eventually. He wasn't sure yet if he wanted to follow. But they visited, often- strange, realizing that he'd brought Becca to Samoa every year since they'd been married, and this was her first time back here. Different, he knew, because she thought his home was exotic and exciting and she thought her own home was a shithole and her siblings stupid for staying. They'd had that fight, many, many times. So instead, he kept her hand in his as he told her brother all about his home and their culture, laying it on thick so that Becks got the point. She'd berate him for it later, he knew, but it was worth it to ease the tension.

They spent an hour that way, exchanging stories and legends. Ben, it must be noted, was intrigued by the idea that La Push and the Quileutes were protected by the wolf spirit. His own home was a little short on natural predators- being a tropical island paradise and all. Jake took that to mean that the combination of sunshine and isolation meant that Samoa, and probably Hawaii, too, had little to fear from Vampires. La Push, however, was a haven in comparison. He was vaguely jealous, hearing about Ben's visits home- rugby and dancing and celebration. He could easily see why Becca loved it, and why La Push paled in comparison.

Eventually, the conversation died. Becca hadn't said another word since, sitting and stewing in silence. Rachel watched her, closely, to see when she'd explode. It was coming; her sister could almost feel it. But the volcano obviously wasn't ready to erupt yet, as they cleared the table and Jake mentioned starting to clear out their father's things. His clothing had been burned, but tradition dictated that his things be removed as soon as they could, and the house cleansed entirely, to ensure that his spirit, if it lingered, was released to be reborn. It was funny, Rachel thought, that her sister could easily accept that aspect of their heritage, but had trouble with _questing_.

She diverted Becks and Ben to the living room, to finish reordering the paperwork, supervised by Paul (although, Becks didn't know it was supervision, as Paul lay on the couch in silence, just watching them) as she and Jake tackled Billy's bedroom, with Leah watching them from the corner. It was hard. Really, really hard. Jake hadn't realised how many photos of his mother his dad had kept around him- they were hidden away in places Jake wouldn't see them; the top drawer on his bedside locker; the inside door of the wardrobe. It was heartbreakingly sad, for both of them. Leah stayed quiet, leaving Jake and Rachel to their grief, only talking when Jake handed her items they needed to hide- paperwork; notebooks. Anything that they had to ensure Becca didn't see.

The tension was evident- a strain between living room and bedroom that she could feel along her spine. It was to her great relief when her cell phone rang and she had an excuse to dash outside, to talk to her mother. She hadn't spoken to Sue properly since Billy died, and she felt a quick flash of guilt- Billy was one of her mother's oldest friends, and Charlie's, and she hadn't even bothered to check on her; too absorbed by the Jake and the pack drama.

"Hey Mom, how you doing?" She was aiming for concerned and caring, but wasn't quite sure she'd made it. Her mother, in return, sounded tired and _old._ It was unusual.

"Leah Clearwater. When, exactly, were you going to tell me that Jacob Black has taken to sleeping in your bed?" Seth was a dead man- as soon as she got her hands on him, he was going to die a slow and painful death.

"Uh. Probably around about now?" Of course, that was presuming that Sue didn't actually kill her, first. It was possible. For a tiny woman, Sue Clearwater was scary. Her mother sighed down the phone, exasperated.

"How's he coping, sweetie?" She only sounded concerned, and Leah's guilt grew. She glanced back at the house, quickly, and moved a few more feet away, outside of Jacob's hearing range.

"He's okay. They're all okay. I don't think it's really hit them, yet. They're going through his things, today." Leah paused and heard a sniffle on the other end of the line. "And you, Mom? How are you and Charlie coping?" Another sniffle.

"I'm okay sweetie. Charlie… he's not doing too well. He's asleep, now, but I think he's in shock, a little." On top of losing Harry, and then Bella, and then the drama of Renesmee and Bella's big reveal as a Vampire, Leah wasn't surprised to hear that the Police chief wasn't coping too well. He hadn't got a Pack to fall back on- all he had was Sue, now. And Bella, who might eat him. So, pretty much just Sue.

"Bring him over for dinner, tonight? I'll cook. You, me, Seth and Charlie- it'll be good for him to get out of the house." That was an echo of what Sue had told her, multiple times, in the aftermath of her own father's death, so she could only agree, promising to be home at six.

"But Leah- I'll be in that house tonight, and Jacob Black better be sleeping on the sofa." Leah sighed- so much for getting used to waking up wrapped around him.

"Yeah, about that Mom… I have some stuff to tell you, about me and Jake." She hesitated, and her mother made a non-committal grunting sound. "We'll talk about it later, okay? But just… don't flip out on me, please."

"You're not pregnant, are you?" Leah almost choked.

"No, Ma- I'm not. I'm pretty sure that's still not possible."

"That's alright then. I'll see you at six." And she hung up. Leah snapped her phone shut and shoved it back in her pocket, half relieved and half mortified. Jesus. The last thing she needed right now was her mother worrying about _babies._ Actually- scratch that; however much the idea might appeal, the last thing she needed right now was a baby, never mind her mother's worrying. The seed of doubt had been planted though, and suddenly Leah's heart clenched. She absolutely, one hundred percent, was not ready to be a mother. It might be time to let the Vampire doctor examine her; make sure it really, really wasn't possible. She took her phone from her pocket again, and dialed Forks General quickly, asking to speak to Dr. Cullen. No time like the present- and, with any luck, a doctor's appointment would get her away from the Black house. Paul could handle anything the twins and Jake could throw at him, right? She sniggered, a little, half-hoping for a drama to test the other wolf. Dr Cullen agreed to meet her in twenty minutes- in the hospital, not at the house. She refused, outright, to go to the house without backup, and she really didn't want to let Jake know what she was doing until she knew the outcome.

The house was silent as she approached and she ducked back into the bedroom, where Jake and Rachel were flipping through a book of photographs.

"I have to head out- my Mom needs me for a while." Jake looked up, surprised, but Rachel's eyes stayed trained on the photos- Leah could see from where she stood at the door that they were mostly of Sarah Black and her children, and Rachel's face was flushed and her eyes filled with tears as she stared at them. Jake walked her out, waiting as she called goodbyes to the others.

She pulled him into a hug outside the front door, and he pressed his face into her hair, nipping lightly at the lingering mark on her neck and a shiver crept up her spine.

"Call me if you need me, okay? Mom and Charlie will be over for dinner tonight- you're welcome to come, if you want?" He pulled her closer, taking a deep breath and breathing her in.

"No. You should spend some time with you Mom and Seth. I'll come by later? After patrols?" He was on the midnight runs that weekend, alone with Quil.

"Sure. Just, be warned- Mom expects you to sleep on the couch, so come wake me, okay?" He nodded into her shoulder and she pulled back, easing his arms from around her waist.

"I'll see you later. Try not to fight, okay?" He grinned, sheepish, and let her go.

She was three minutes late for her meeting with Carlisle, but he led her to his office without mentioning it.

"I won't bring you into an exam room, because then we'd need to create files and charts, and I think we'd both prefer to keep this quiet?" She nodded. Quiet was definitely a requirement. She took a seat in the chair by his desk, and he pulled a hypodermic needle from his desk drawer.

"Why the change of heart, Leah? I've been trying to get you down here for weeks." His eyes flitted briefly to the mark on her neck, but his expression remained calm.

"Yeah, well, before now it was a non-issue. I wasn't _having_ sex, and the only chance of babies was Immaculate Conception. Well, not so immaculate, but you know what I mean."

"And this has changed, I take it?" He was holding her arm, looking for a suitable vein, so he felt her nod her agreement.

"Yeah, it has. When Nessie's whatever it was lifted, things between me and Jake, uh, happened. Things that we kinda think were always supposed to happen, so… suddenly, babies are back on the table. And I don't want any, for at least another decade, even if I somehow _can_ have them, so we need to do something, Doc." If he was surprised, he didn't show it- but he did murmur another apology about the part his family had played in the ruination of her life. She shrugged it off and told him it was okay.

He drew blood- finding it difficult to break her skin without serious force- and then offered her a lollipop in exchange. He didn't bother with a band-aid, as the hole sealed over as she watched. It was scabbed over in seconds. She answered his questions, sucking on the lollipop contentedly. He did a quick physical exam, but told her he'd wait for her blood tests to come back before considering a more detailed physical exam. Somewhere, deep down, she knew that was for the best- Jake was likely to go batshit at the thought of another man (or vampire, whatever) so much as _looking_ at her, never mind poking around inside her. And she wasn't too enthralled by the idea, herself, regardless of the doctor bit.

"I'll run these myself, this afternoon, and call you when I have something to tell you." She could only nod, and thank him and wave goodbye as she sauntered out the door, crushing the last of the sweet between her teeth and tossing the stick in the garbage. Before she left, she turned back to him, briefly, guilt gnawing at her insides.

"Will you tell Bella that her dad could use some company? He's, uh, not coping too well. She should call him." She continued on her way before he could respond, and she considered that her good deed for the day.

Outside the hospital, she paused, considering the rest of the day. It was early; barely afternoon yet. She glanced around her, considering her options, before getting back into her mother's car and heading to the grocery store in Forks. She needed to pick up food for dinner and maybe, if she was lucky, she might even have time to finish her assignment. The sun broke through the clouds and the ground shone with the recent rain and Leah could only smile.

* * *

Marianne slammed her car door shut, frustrated. The house in front of her loomed, almost, despite it's small stature. She really, really wasn't looking forward to this. It was dark, and late, but she could see her brother standing on the porch all the same. He looked amused. She couldn't help but groan. He stepped off the porch, sauntering toward her. He was her height, just over five foot eight, and slightly built- wiry, he'd say- but his small stature belied extraordinary strength.

"Evening sis. You'll be delighted to hear that _everyone_ is inside, eagerly awaiting your report." She groaned again, half annoyed, half angry.

"Seriously? They couldn't have waited till the morning to ream me out?" She'd phoned ahead- they all knew just how big a mess she'd made of it already.

"Apparently not. But, chin up! You know this means that you won't get sent on another fact finder without backup. I.e. me. And we know you're more fun when I'm around." Her brother grinned widely, eternally cheerful, and grabbed her hands. "Come on- time to face the music."

"They'd better be prepared for me to go apeshit in front of everyone- this is _not_ my fault. I was told- supposedly, reliably informed- that I was going in to talk to an eighteen year old _kid_ whose only remaining parent had just died, alpha of some half-assed fractured pack! And what did I find? No fractured pack, to start, and a guy who is _built like a house_ who wanted nothing to do with me- and he has no trouble sending out those freaky Alpha vibes, by the way. And his friggin' mate- who I didn't even know _existed_- was blocking me at every turn! What I want to know is how we fucked that up so badly? We _watch._ It's what we do! How'd we miss it?" Daniel, who'd known his sister from the womb, could tell she was building herself up into a snit on purpose- entering the meeting riled up and angry instead of submissive and weak. It was a tactic he was familiar with, given his family. He glanced back at her, seeing the genuine irritation in her eyes, and re-evaluated a little. Some of her anger, at least, was real- she'd really, really fucked up, and was kinda humiliated because of it. If she wasn't his sister, it would be funny. She had no choice but to go on the offensive and save face. He hesitated for a beat, waiting for her to catch him up and walked through the door with her, side by side. He'd be the one helping her clean up the mess, so he might as well stand with her from the start.

As it turned out, they hadn't needed to worry. Their mother and father, and the twenty others (seven couples and their assorted offspring) listened to her rant for a moment or two before hushing her.

"We have to go back there and get this sorted out, of course- and it's got to be soon." Diana West was clearly their mother- slim and wiry, sharing their nose, eyes, and impatience. "We've had word from the south that the half-vampires are moving. About three hours ago, they crossed the border and we expect they're heading back to Washington State, to the Cullen coven. The Pack there need to be warned. We all know the stories- we know what these things are; what they can do." She met her daughter's gaze firmly. "From what you know of them, now, do you think they will remain with their unorthodox alliance with the Cullens if it comes to a fight?" Marianne bit her lip, thinking. She'd seen some of the Cold Ones at the funeral- they hadn't stayed long. But they'd been there long enough for her to see the child they carried with them- a half-vampire. She told her family as much, but Diana was not surprised.

"I think… their Alpha seems quite close to the child. He will be protective of her, but… the others. I don't know. Only three of them were invited to the funeral." It was little, but enough that they could assume that there was a fracture in the alliance. They should have paid closer attention; disregarded the dismissal of Billy Black and their banishment from Quileute territory. The banishment, clearly, had ended when the man died. Diana couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for his death. She nodded, considering her daughter's words.

"Contact Gwen in New Mexico. Tell her to have them followed north- alert all the flocks between there and Washington. They won't slip past us this time."

The last time the abomination had trekked north, accompanied by two of the Cullen coven and the Crow Nation hadn't spotted them until they were crossing California. As Diana instructed her son and daughter to return to La Push, she vowed that it wouldn't happen again. Theirs was the task of watching; of spying and secrecy. They'd failed only once, recently, when the La Push pack emerged for the first time in generations, and they hadn't spotted that until it was too late and people had begun dying. It was… aggravating. Their numbers had dwindled- where once, there had been nearly a thousand in their extended flock, there were now merely dozens, and the strain was showing.

Diana really, really needed to get the Pack in La Push on their side. It was about time that the Natives of the Olympic Peninsula got involved, again, in the task of controlling the Cold Ones. They, too, had grown complacent. The time for that was at an end.

She gave her instructions, telling her children she would see them in Forks, stood up from her chair and leapt, upward, into the air. Her feathers settled in seconds and she was gone, out the open skylight and toward Washington state.

"So, do you want to drive, or will I?" Marianne was staring, open-mouthed, at the place where her mother had been standing, seconds before, and she barely even heard her brother's words. Around them, their people were scattering- some, leaving through the open window and others the more conventional front door. It wasn't long until she was alone with her father and brother, both staring at her.

"That's _it_? I spent _hours_ in the car, going over and over all the ways she was going to tear me to pieces, and that's _it_?" Her dad grinned, a little, reaching over and patting her on the head patronisingly.

"Don't worry sweetie. I'm sure you'll do something else to piss her off between here and La Push, and she can yell at you then." Unsurprisingly, Marianne was not amused. She fell silent again, gnawing on her lower lip until she drew blood.

"Do we know why they're moving north? Has anyone heard anything?" Joseph shook his head.

"No, we don't. But they're already carving a path across the country- the male; his sisters and his Vampire Aunt. We expect… we expect that he's aiming to charm the female half-vampire that you mentioned. Why now, and not anytime before… well, I hope that the Alpha in La Push can tell us that."

She nodded, slowly, and turned to her brother.

"Let's get out of here. We'll need to get there _before_ Mom."

* * *

Dinner was awkward, a little, but Charlie seemed relaxed enough- apparently, Bella had come to visit him that afternoon with Nessie and he'd loved getting to spend time with his granddaughter. Sue had directed a suspicious gaze at Leah, but the she-wolf hadn't even blinked. She definitely didn't want people thinking that she _cared_ if Charlie Swan was happy or not. No way, no how, no siree. She ran her patrol after dinner with Seth- finding nothing, unsurprisingly,- and she'd even managed to finish her assignment for college. Overall, the evening wasn't too bad, then- except maybe for the realization that Charlie Swan would be, in fact, staying over _with_ Sue. That fact made her want to vomit and from the look on Seth's face, she assumed he felt the same. Luckily, the adults were in bed long before the siblings returned from patrols and both seemed to be sleeping heavily, so there was question of icky night-time sounds keeping them trapped in a living nightmare. Charlie's continued presence, however, meant Leah didn't really get to talk to her mother about the Jacob situation. Seth, of course, had spilled the beans earlier and then proceeded to tell their mother that Leah was Alpha too, now, so Sue had some idea of what was going on. In fact, Leah got the impression that her mother approved, except for the minor factor of Jake's sleeping over.

In fact, the elder Clearwater had made up a bed on the couch specifically for Jake, as a pointed warning to her daughter. Leah, on returning from patrol, had settled herself onto it to watch TV and wait for Jake. Seth had muttered something about turning on his stereo and trying to get to sleep before Jake got there and disappeared into his room.

She was asleep when Jake finally arrived, long after four am. He'd doubled the night- patrols over the weekend, stretching it to four hours so that only two people missed out on a decent night's sleep. The glow from the TV lit up the room and she looked so peaceful, genuinely resting, that he hadn't got the heart to wake her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead instead and, with a grin, headed to her room to get some sleep. She could kick his ass in the morning about it.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so I'm agonizing because the only logical place I can go with this involves OC's, and generally, I don't even _LIKE_ OC's. If you have opinions, please share.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Still don't own Twilight.

A/N: Massive thank yous to everyone who has reviewed. Your feedback has been really appreciated, and hopefully this chapter will be as well received as the previous ones.

* * *

Leah awoke to the scent of bacon and the sound of her mother yelling. She leapt into sitting position, startled, and for a moment didn't know where she was- her confusion only lasted a beat until she noticed the patterned wallpaper and matching furniture that told her she was in the living room. That would have been fine, except her leap upward had unbalanced her and before she could correct herself, she crashed to the floor, cursing loudly. Her mother laughed, having seen her fall, and Leah scowled and pulled herself to her feet.

"Good morning to you, too, Mom." She grumbled, as Sue laughed again and ushered her daughter into the kitchen where Seth and Charlie were waiting for her.

"Why were you sleeping on the couch when you have a perfectly functioning bedroom not thirty feet away?" Leah could only shrug- she really didn't want to admit that she'd been waiting for Jake. Somehow, she didn't think that would be taken too well.

"I was watching a movie." That seemed to satisfy her mother, who broke off into conversation with Seth instead. Charlie was quiet, but he looked as if he'd slept well, which Leah made a point of commenting on- and not just because he'd spent the night with her mother in her father's bed. She was also, partly, relieved to see that the man had slept properly- the sheriff had been beginning to look like the walking dead and, despite her jokes, Leah wasn't actually interested in meeting a zombie. After that, she spent several minutes cursing the boys for sharing her brain so much that she was thinking about zombies, _again_. One long, long afternoon of patrol with Seth, Embry and Quil had already cemented their zombie-survival plan, so it's not as though she had anything to worry about. She was lucky her mother didn't notice her almost choking on her breakfast at that thought. Jesus, she needed to spend more time with girls. From there, breakfast was quiet and Leah was content to listen to the sound of her family talking. She even cleared the table after, though she did force Seth to dry while she washed. She was working that day, the afternoon shift, and when breakfast was done and the cleanup finished, she said her thank yous and disappeared to her room to get ready.

She wasn't surprised to see Jacob asleep in her bed, but the tiny scream that escaped and woke him proved she was at least startled.

"What the hell are you doing in here, Black?" She demanded in a whisper, shutting the door firmly behind her and stepping over to him, smacking him on the arm. He blinked up at her, eyes wide, before grinning. He caught her hand as it swung to smack him again and pulled her forcefully onto the bed with him.

"I was _sleeping_, but now you're here I can think of a few things I'd rather do instead." His tone was playful and Leah couldn't help but grin back at him and letting him kiss her, just for a minute.

"I have to work in an hour. I need to get changed." He grinned against her mouth.

"Don't let me stop you." She kissed him again and slid her body over his and off the bed. She could feel his eyes on her as she got dressed, but there was no awkwardness in it; no embarrassment. It felt kind of normal, and natural, for him to be here in her room. She didn't want to think about it- after her trip to Carlisle yesterday, she was definitely keeping him _out_ of her bed until they knew exactly what could and couldn't happen. That didn't stop her from letting him walk her to walk- if by _walk_ you meant _drag her behind the store_ for fifteen minutes to make out in private and almost make her late. But whatever. She was young, her boyfriend was hot. Could she be held accountable?

They were meeting Carlisle at the end of her shift; heading up to the manor to renegotiate the treaty. In that, she hoped Jake knew what he wanted because she hadn't got a clue. Maybe a clause against half-vampire spawn being treated the same as real vamps, or against using their freaky vamp powers on people. Whatever- she'd follow his lead and act as if she knew exactly what was going on. She watched him walk away, seeing him through the front window of the store as he made his way home. She hadn't asked what had happened the night before, with Becca, or if he'd found anything useful in his dad's things, but he had seemed cheerful enough so she supposed it couldn't have been all bad. She put it out of her mind, deciding not to wonder about it all until later, and did her best to focus on stacking shelves until six o'clock.

Of course, the universe wasn't going to let Leah Clearwater away that easily- at twenty five minutes past five o'clock, the bell over the door chimed and someone she had hoped to never see again stumbled over the threshold. And this time? She had company. Oh, goody.

"What? Are there no grieving teenagers to harass in the Crow Nation?"

* * *

Jake opened the front door quietly; not wanting to wake anyone. He shouldn't have bothered- they were all already awake. Rebecca and Ben were sitting together on the couch and Rachel was curled up on the sole armchair. It was clear from the exhaustion in her eyes that she hadn't slept, again. He'd have to ask Paul what was going on, there. He could just ask Rachel, but she got touchy about her _little brother_ worrying about her.

"Hey guys. Is Paul around?" Rachel nodded, gesturing to the kitchen, where Paul was making her tea. A week before, Jake would have teased him about being whipped but now he just crossed the living room and ducked into the kitchen.

"Hey man, you got a minute?" Running alone the night before, Jake had some time to think- and he'd decided a few things. Part of him wished he'd had the chance to run it all past Leah first, but he was pretty sure she would have agreed anyway. That and he _had_ the chance to speak to her that morning, but he'd spent the time doing other things instead.

"Sure. Just let me give this to Rach." The other man padded back into the living room and deposited the mug of tea with his fiancée. Jake heard him tell her that they were going to collect his truck and that they'd be back soon.

And collect his truck they did- walking slowly to Jared's house, where he'd abandoned the vehicle the night before in favour of four feet.

They were silent for a while as Paul waited, patiently, for Jake to say whatever it was he had on his mind.

"I need to tell you something, and I need you to promise me that you aren't going to go apeshit." Paul glanced at him, a little surprised.

"Am I getting demoted?" There was a note of _something_ in Paul's voice that Jake hadn't been expecting- desperation, or sadness or something. He almost laughed, but managed to catch himself in time.

"No. No, definitely not." He caught the other shifter's eyes and smiled, a little. "You're third Paul, and that isn't going to change." He allowed himself a chuckle, "Lee's been referring to you as Beta male. You might have to get used to that." The tension that had built between dissipated, and Jake repeated his request that Paul promise not to get mad. It took him a minute to respond, as he stared out into the forest. They'd stopped walking, half-hidden by trees on the way to Jared's.

"I can't promise that, Jake. You know that." His Alpha grinned.

"I suppose not." He took a deep breath. "My imprint on Nessie was fake. She used her gift to convince me that I had imprinted so that I wouldn't kill her when she was born." Rip it off- like a band-aid.

To his surprise, Paul nodded slowly, taking a couple of deep breaths. He didn't seem too shocked, though.

"I thought something like that might have happened." He grinned at the expression on Jake's face. "Don't worry- it's not something anyone else has figured out, but… Rachel and I talked about it, ages ago. She said she couldn't see it; that she thought what you and Nessie had was different to the rest of us."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" There was a thread of anger in Jake's voice that his Beta chose to ignore.

"Couple of reasons- mostly because Rach said you would be furious. And we weren't _sure_, so… besides, you wouldn't have listened to me, not when we weren't even in the same Pack." He shrugged, and didn't say anymore.

"You're right." Paul almost wasn't sure he'd heard _that._ Jacob Black, admitting that he was right about something? Stop the presses. "I wouldn't have listened." Even the anger was gone from his tone. "I'm starting to think that I should have just taken the Alpha position when I phased first, and stopping all this bullshit from happening. We should never have had two packs." He punched Paul, gently, in the shoulder, "then I would have listened to you, at least." They laughed and started walking again. "Leah and I will be going to meet Carlisle today, to renegotiate the treaty. I want you here, to keep everyone in check." Again, Paul didn't seem surprised, and he agreed readily.

"How are things with Leah, anyway? Has she healed up after the fight?" Jake nodded absently, his thoughts gone somewhere else. Paul gave him a minute to come back to the conversation.

"What's up with Rachel?" He blurted out, having failed to find a more subtle way of asking. Paul blinked.

"I dunno, man. I keep telling her to go to a doctor and get checked out, but you know Rachel." They both nodded. "I think it's just grief, you know? She hasn't been sleeping well, so she's tired and grumpy. And I think she's getting the flu, because she's been vomiting up anything she has eaten but… she won't go to the doctor, and there's nothing I can say to convince her, so…" Jake could tell that Paul wasn't really worried, and that was reassuring enough on its own.

"Keep an eye on her. If you get worried, tell me. We can force her to go to the doctor if we have to." They kept going, talking quietly- about the wolves; the treaty; football. It didn't take long to reach Jared's, and Paul hopped into the driver's seat.

"Come on. Let's get back before Rachel kills Becca and we have to organise another funeral." It shouldn't have been funny, but really? It kinda was. And the laughter that spilled from them both filled the car and the last tension in Jake over his choice of Beta disappeared. Paul might not have always been his favorite person, but he was family now and he'd more than proven himself.

"Any ideas what to do with Becca?" The night before had been painfully, achingly, tense. Becca had tried to convince Rachel and Paul to come and stay with them in Hawaii- saying that Rachel could do her masters, and Paul could learn to surf and that they'd have time to really get to know each other again. Jake hadn't known whether to be amused or offended that, once again, Becca seemed to have forgotten all about him. Ben, bless him, had added that Jake would be welcome too, to finish school. To her credit, Becks had flushed red at that, remembering her little brother in the plan she'd made. Jake, of course, had politely declined, reminding Ben that he had a responsibility to his people. He had, however, promised to visit when their first child was born- a statement that generated a look of absolute horror on Ben's face, and sent Jake and Paul in peals of laughter. But that had been, unfortunately, the only laughter that night. They'd gone through Billy's things and, yes, financially they were about as badly off as they'd thought. The house was mortgaged, but at least the balance was small and the payments were manageable. There was no life insurance, unsurprisingly, and Billy had little savings. His disability allowance had been their only real source of income since Sarah Black had died, so now it was down to Jake, Paul and Rachel to get moving quickly and sort themselves out. Paul had been working, on and off, as the wolf thing settled down- he would have to be more on than off from now on, somehow. Jake had a hint of a plan for that, but he couldn't commit to anything until after he finished school- a few more months. He'd do his best, evenings and weekends, to earn enough extra that they wouldn't starve. And Rachel was already looking for a new job.

Becca had offered them money. It would have been fine; a kind, generous offer, even, if it hadn't come on the back of another lecture about why they were both so much better than the reservation. Politely, Rachel had refused. Things had been very, very tense after that. Jake had been thrilled to leave on patrol, for all that it was the cowards way out.

"We could put her in a sack and mail her back to Hawaii, but I'm not sure that'd solve anything." Jake laughed again, letting the amusement roll over him. No, that would certainly not fix anything. But it was pretty much exactly what he felt like doing to her.

Taking the coward's way out again, they parked outside and spent an hour or so tinkering with the engines in the garage- some work Jake had to finish, and some distractions so they could ignore their visitors for a while longer. Rachel came out, after a time, and sat on the old couch, watching them work. She didn't say anything- she didn't have to. The tension in the house was palpable, and any escape from that was a relief. She watched and they worked, and the silence was only broken by the occasional curse or shout of frustration, usually followed by Rachel giggling. It was a nice way to pass the afternoon, Jake decided, taking comfort in his family for the first time in… a long time. Since Rachel came home, maybe? The anger that he'd felt toward Paul for imprinting was gone, now, thank Christ. One sister at a time hating him was plenty, thanks.

At about one o'clock, the sun came out, so they dragged their work out onto the lawn, making the most of the fine weather. Shortly after that, the pack began to filter in- starting with Seth, who only glared at Jake briefly when he remembered his Alpha's escape from Leah's bedroom window that morning. Anyone who wasn't working or patrolling slipped in, eventually- talking, laughing and playing football in the sunshine. Emily and Kim were there too, turning up together, carrying a basket of muffins that were devoured in seconds, and joining Rachel on the couch- Paul had dragged it outside, into the sun. It didn't escape Jake's notice that Emily looked tired and that her gaze continually drifted to Sam, who was sitting at her feet. Sam himself was quiet; very quiet. His bruises had faded and the anger and pain in his eyes was gone. He was back, almost, to being the Sam that Jake remembered from years ago- quiet, good natured, and not on a massive power trip. When he finally finished replacing the brakes on Embry's mother's car, he sat up on the bonnet and just watched them. Paul finished off the carburetor he'd been rebuilding and lay down on the grass next to Jared, closing his eyes against the glare of the sun.

It was mid-afternoon before Becca came outside, holding Ben's hand tightly. They sat together on the back porch. Ben joined the conversation about the Mariners and Becca stayed quiet, gazing around her at the dozen boys her brother called his friends. It was too much to hope that she would understand, suddenly, but she was certainly beginning to. She could see them looking to him- asking questions, offering jokes. The younger ones wanted his approval, the older ones wanted his advice. More than anything else; more than his physical size or his intimidating glare, this left Becca beginning to see what Jake meant when he said he had a responsibility. There were only a few hundred Quileutes at La Push. And all of the younger ones, it seemed, saw her brother as their chief already. She would have been proud of him, if she didn't still think it was heartbreakingly sad.

It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon- the only dim spot was that Leah was missing, but Jake didn't miss her too much. He knew she would have preferred to be there, too, and that he'd see her at six- really, what else could he ask for? Jared and Paul brought out the barbecue and they ate, laughing and joking. If Becca and Ben noticed Brady, Embry and Sam disappear shortly before Colin, Quil and Tim returned, they didn't say anything. Kim regaled them all with stories from university and Jared took out his guitar and played for a while. It was nice. Calm.

Well, it _was_ calm. Until a scent drifted to Jake's nose and his eyes snapped open. He didn't leap to his feet like he wanted to, but scanned the yard and the trees and then, as subtly as he could, he scanned the skies. He spotted immediately what he had hoped he'd been imagining- a large black crow, bigger than normal and perched in the roof of his house, staring down at him. He'd told them all about Marianne and what Leah had deduced about her, but he was the only one paying attention, now. He was the only one seeing what this really was. He was the one being watched, anyway.

When his fist closed around a small stone on the ground, he suppressed a smile. Cruel, it might be, but he wasn't going to roll over and let a fucking _Crow_ use his house as a shit-post. That, and he really, really, wasn't expecting the stone to connect with the bird's head. How had it not seen it coming? But, connect it did and Jake was on his feet, running to the other side of the house and seeing it fall to the ground, dazed and confused. He didn't know what had possessed him to throw the stone, but he knew exactly what made him grip the bird firmly in one hand, holding the beak tightly between his index finger and thumb. Beady eyes glared at him and the black feathers were definitely ruffled. He couldn't tell if it was a male or female- how could you tell on a crow? He certainly didn't know. Either way, it didn't matter as he returned to the yard, ignoring the gasps and stares from the others as he deposited the bird in a pallet-crate and dropped the crate in the middle of the yard. The bird couldn't get out, but it could be seen through the gaps. He grinned grimly.

"I've always wondered if dead crows _do_ act as a warning against other crows." He ignored the cawing and threw himself onto the ground again, not far from the crate- but not particularly nearby either. "I guess we'll find out, soon enough."

"Jake! What the hell?" Becca had been silent for so long, he'd secretly been hoping she'd forgotten how to speak. "Let that bird out, this instant! What has gotten into you?" She dashed down the steps, toward the semi-circle of grass now surrounding the crate. The bird cawed again, piteously. If Jake had needed any confirmation- that was it. It flapped in its improvised cage, feebly.

"Leave it Becks." He warned, not even opening his eyes to glare at her. Seth glared at her, instead, blocking her path deliberately.

"What the hell? What is going on here? What do you possibly need a _crow_ for, and why in God's name did you shoot it down from the roof?" Whatever brief understanding she'd claimed of her brother was rapidly dwindling as he lay there, ignoring her. Leah's little brother was hovering in front of her, not letting her through to the crate.

"We need it." Seth said. "For the ritual" Her face was blank. "The inauguration ceremony? Jake needs the feathers from a bird he caught himself; the skin of a deer he took himself and… uh… I don't remember the last one."

"The bones of a fish." Jared added, helpfully. Seth nodded, grinning.

"That's right! Fish bones." Her blank look remained, as she searched their faces for signs of deceit and found none- not even Rachel showed any doubt, and her twin had always been the most skeptical of them all.

"This is ridiculous! It's barbaric, and cruel and _ridiculous._" She spat, anger marring her otherwise pretty features.

"You said that one already." Only Seth could get away with something like that- and only then because he looked so perfectly innocent while saying it. It wasn't the first time that Jake was glad Becca had never paid any attention. And he was pretty glad she didn't know the guys well enough to see their hidden smiles. It was heartless, maybe, but he couldn't bring himself to care- not when he'd was busy wondering what the hell he should do with their guest. Becca eventually just sneered at them all and flounced off, dragging Ben with her to the beach. Once they were gone- and well out of earshot- Jake sat up and met everyone's gaze evenly.

"We have a guest. We need to check if there are more." His grin, wolfish, was aimed at the bird in the crate. The boys followed his grin, smiles widening wickedly as they traipsed past the crate one by one, taking a deep breath to capture the scent. Ever since Leah had told them of the potential existence of other shape shifters, they'd been eager to meet one. They all had questions- tonnes of them. Of course, catching one spying on them hadn't been the way most of them had imagined an introduction, but Jake seemed to know what he was doing.

"Seth, stay here. Keep an eye on that one- if it escapes, I'm holding you personally accountable." It would have been more intimidating if Seth didn't know Jake still watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. He nodded, regardless, and Jake stepped inside the house to locate his cell and call Leah. It was nearing six- she would be over soon, anyway. Rachel, Emily and Kim remained outside; clearing up the mess the boys had left behind. Rachel grumbled a little, complaining that it was always the womenfolk left to do the tidying up, but Seth ignored her. Rachel, much like his sister and _her_ sister, liked to complain. Emily and Kim said very little- ignoring their friend, almost, and exchanging comments with one another instead. Seth sat and watched the crate.

Inside, Jake's cell proved to be on top of the television and he only found it after calling it from the house phone. Calling Leah from the house phone appeared to be a step too far.

She answered on the first ring, unusually.

"Jake. Excellent timing. What are you doing, right now?" She sounded serious.

"I'm at home. I need you to come here. Why?" She was quiet, and he could hear people in the background.

"I was going to suggest you meet me at home, because we have some guests, but I could bring them to you?" _Guests?_ He didn't like the sound of that.

"Of the feathered variety?" He guessed.

"Yup. Our friend Marianne and her identical twin brother." Jake couldn't help but laugh at that- even when Leah was trying to be nice, she was a bitch. He loved it.

"Get her as quickly as you can. Can you leave work early?" It was a few minutes to six, so she wouldn't take too long either way. He hoped.

"No can do- but I'll be leaving here by five after six, I promise. They're gonna wait here with me" He hoped they recognized that her words were not a question, but a command.

"Excellent. I'll see you then." He sighed, amused, and hung up the phone. So, their guest was not alone, and had, apparently, sent someone back to speak to Leah again. Just like the first time. He wasn't sure what to think about that. He wasn't sure what to think about any of it. And, on top of everything else, they were due to head up to the Cullens for seven o'clock. Quickly, he dialed the Manor's land phone and left a message for Esme and Carlisle to say that they wouldn't be able to make it until nine o'clock and that 'something had come up'. He was relatively certain that they wouldn't press too hard to find out what, exactly, and there was no way that Edward was going to be there that evening. Carlisle wasn't dumb. So that left the Cullens out of all this until he could find out exactly what it was the Crow people were looking for. Of course, maybe he shouldn't have trapped one of them in a crate. But, in his defense, he _really_ hadn't expected to hit the bloody bird. That wasn't his fault- if one of his boys had been caught napping like that, they'd be in for a world of pain. Out the window he could see Seth perched next to the crate watching Rachel and Kim cleaning up. Emily was out of his eye line, but he could hear her laughing from somewhere near the garage.

He was glad that Becca had flounced off- it gave him some space to deal with everything without worrying that he had to speak in code. Unfortunately, he was now just worrying that she'd come back and find him with some douche Crow in a headlock. Rachel caught his eye through the window and he half-smiled, waving one hand. She grinned back at him, looking less tired suddenly. He hadn't asked Paul earlier- he didn't want to freak him out- but he couldn't help but wonder if Rachel was pregnant. Normally, he could tell (gross, he knew) where she was on her cycle (he really, really hoped no-one ever found that out, but it's not as if he could _help_ it) but she'd been all over the place since Billy died, so he really didn't know. He might have to ask though- it would certainly explain some things. But she'd kill him if he mentioned it, so maybe he'd be better off saying nothing? He suppressed a shudder at the thought of his sister doing any of the things that could end with her pregnant, and returned to the yard instead.

"Lee will be here soon- and she's picked up some visitors of her own." He grinned down at the caged bird. "I hope you hadn't been planning on keeping this a secret, because whoever you came with is going to be here soon." It may have been his imagination, but did the crow shrink a little at that? It definitely dropped back, further into the crate. Funny. He resisted the urge to laugh though. He left Seth sitting there, and returned the sofa and the barbecue to the garage, before phasing out of the sight of the crow and asking Paul to send two guys- he didn't care who- back, to stay in wolf form in the trees. Between himself, Leah and Seth, they could surely handle the three they had identified- but who knew how many there actually were? He'd done some googling, and crows usually travelled in flocks, or whatever, of about twenty. From what he'd seen of Marianne, they were small and slight- but he wasn't willing to risk it. He phased back and got redressed, occupying himself with putting away his tools from earlier until he heard the sound of an unfamiliar engine pulling up. He was willing to bet it was Leah, directing whatever piece of shit rental was making the racket. He could feel the pull that said it was her, anyway, so it was a safe bet. Not to sound like a complete girl, but he got a warm fuzzy feeling whenever Leah came closer. She kinda made everything easier. Not that he'd be telling her that- she'd laugh her ass off. He watched from the garage doors as the car doors opened- Marianne had been driving and Leah in the passenger seat. The third, Marianne's brother, got out from the rear seat. He'd been sitting behind Leah, Jake noticed. Exactly where he'd have put Brady or Colin in that situation- close enough to grab the person in front from behind strangle them, regardless of the difference in strength. He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts. Paranoia wouldn't do him, or the Pack, any good at this point. These guys, however annoying, hadn't actually done anything- sure, Marianne had interrupted his dad's funeral and made a nuisance of herself, but the only reference he'd been able to find in his dad's things was about some Crow woman called Diana, who'd have been his dad's age at least, if not older, and all his dad had said was that she was a heartless bitch and to stay away from her. He'd have no problem following that advice- after he found out what the hell they wanted.

Marianne was wearing a wary expression, and he could tell she was exhausted. Her brother was less wary, and less tired. He could tell however, the second they caught sight of the pallet-crate and its occupant- expressions of varied shock and outrage crossing their faces before they could bring themselves under control. Leah noticed too and barely contained a laugh, sauntering over to him and pressing herself into his side for just a second. The shake in her shoulders was the only evidence she gave of laughter- and he was pretty sure he was the only one who noticed that.

"Care to explain why you're back? And so soon?" He addressed Marianne, ignoring her brother entirely as he stared at the crate. The bird inside was cawing again, but he ignored that, too.

"We, uh, need to talk." She glanced around at the women in the yard; at Seth.

"So talk." The siblings exchanged a glance, and then the man spoke. Leah, under her breath, told Jake that his name was Daniel. Until he heard an explanation, Jake wasn't sure he was going to care.

"We sent Marianne here to meet you. That didn't go too well, obviously, because she didn't find what we'd been expecting. We're from the Crow Nation." He glanced at the crate again, "But I think you figured that out. We, uh… traditionally, our tribe watch for threats against our people- well, all people now, I suppose. We watch and we intervene if we have to, and we keep the links between the tribes alive." Jake didn't respond. Leah merely raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah? And how's that going for you?" Jesus, Jake was doing a steel shutter impression.

"Badly, at the moment, as you can tell." Marianne responded. "When I got home, my mother had information that we needed to bring straight back to you." She bit her lip, glancing at her brother and then at the crate. "She's one of our leaders, so when she told us to return, it wasn't something I could say no to."

"Spit it out kid, I haven't got all day." Leah bit the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing, and pressed her face into Jake's shoulder. She thought, briefly, about biting him instead of herself but decided against it- it would do no good to start something she couldn't finish, and she was pretty sure she knew exactly what biting him would do. Seriously though? Kid? The woman was _at least_ a decade older than him. When she spoke again, Leah could hear the annoyance in her tone.

"There's a coven of half-vampires killing their way across the country right now, and we think they're coming here."

Her laughter died in her throat. Nahuel and his sisters? Coming back to Forks? This couldn't possibly be good.

"You're certain?" Jake's voice was ice.

"Well, we're certain that they're the South American half-breeds, and they're definitely moving north. And they're definitely killing people." Daniel took several steps forward, arms wide and palms out in the universal sign for 'we come in peace'.

"We're watchers. We're not fighters- we can't take these guys alone."

Jake nodded slowly, tightening his grip on Leah, ever so slightly.

"So why were you watching us, this afternoon?" He nodded toward the yard, the crate, and the captive crow. Daniel sighed.

"Our mother flew out here, threatening to show us how it's done." The man gestured to the crate. "She's shown us something, alright."

There was a beat of silence. Two. Three.

And then Rachel burst into laughter, tears coming to her eyes as she doubled over in soundless waves of mirth. She wasn't alone long- Kim, Emily and Leah followed suit, and even Marianne chuckled. In the woods, there were sounds of wolves howling laughter. Jake, Daniel and Seth managed to remain stoic. In his mind, Jake was anything but amused- he'd managed to injure and incarcerate the tribal _leader_ of the Crow Nation? Seriously? What the hell was wrong with his luck? He couldn't have gotten dweeb boy or his irritating sister? Nooo… he had to get their crazy, _ELDER, _mother.

"Is her name Diana?" That would be just too perfect, right? Imprison the one woman his father had warned him to stay away from? The siblings nodded.

"That figures. Leah- will you let her out, please?" She grinned and stepped away.

"Happy to, boss." She was still grinning when she wrenched the lid off the crate; still grinning when the large black bird hopped out leapt into the air. She was still grinning when the bird transformed, faster than any of the wolves could, back into a slight, wiry, middle-aged woman. Interestingly, she was fully clothed- no phasing induced nakedness for the Crow nation.

"I don't see what you're so amused by, Miss Clearwater. There's a fight on your doorstep and you're grinning like a fool." Leah's grin widened.

"Yeah, yeah, fight schmight. You're just pissed because Muttley caught the pigeon- don't even try to take that out on me. You might scare your kids, but I grew up with Sue Clearwater, and that's some scary shit right there." She hoisted the crate with one arm and flung it away, toward the garage.

"So. What can you tell us about the half-breeds? Where are they now, and how long do you think we have before they get here?"

Jake had every intention of going to the Cullen house that evening. He needed to know, now, exactly what they were facing so that when he met Carlisle, he was able to tell him exactly who their new treaty wasn't going to cover.

It was about time that the Cold Ones began to fear his kind, again. Jake would be happy to start with Nahuel and his sisters.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter, we should see the Cullens again- especially for all of us who have forgotten that Twilight was actually about Vampires...


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight. Ms Meyer would probably hate me for what I've done with her toys. Ah well.

A/N: Apologies for the delay. I've been sitting on this for a while, wondering if it was ready for posting. It wasn't until I got a few messages, asking me where the next chapter was that I decided I should just post it. :)

Thanks to all who have reviewed, and I hope everyone enjoys this one.

* * *

Jake made tea while Leah made polite inquiries into Diana's flight. The woman made sure to point out that her capture was the result of exhaustion and not any kind of superiority on Jake's part. Leah stifled her natural responses, and allowed the elder woman her protests. Marianne and Daniel took seats on either side of their mother, wearing indulgent expressions. Rachel, Emily and Kim had wandered off- Rachel saying something about food that Jake had only half-heard. The Pack were patrolling, seeking out any other Crow people that Diana hoped to hide from him.

"We have a lot of questions, but first I need to know where the half-breeds are." Jake announced, depositing the tea on the table with no ceremony. Leah had set out mugs and milk and neither wolf was prepared to pour. Diana met his gaze steadily.

"I'll make a few calls in a moment and find out. I believe we have several days, however, before they become a threat to us here. Of course, that doesn't save the people they are going to kill between now and then." There seemed to be an edge of disdain in her voice that Jake didn't like the sound of. But he didn't bother correcting her- after all, he'd hit her with a rock and locked her in a box. He could take a few snide remarks.

"Where were they, last time you heard?" She took a moment, pouring her tea in what was obviously an attempt to gain control back over the situation. Jake held back his growl. Leah held back a giggle.

"As of yesterday evening, they were approaching California. I estimate we have a few days." She took a sip and even smiled patronizingly.

"And you think they're coming here? After us or the Cullens?" After _Nessie_, more like.

"I can only guess that they are coming here to visit the Cullen child. Why? Does it make a difference?" Yes. It really did.

"Well, for one, if they're coming after the Quileute people and they're currently in California, then yeah- it makes a difference. There's a Quileute reservation in Northern California and, as far as I am aware, they know S.F.A about vamps." Diana had the grace to blush. "But you're right. It's unlikely they're after us. They're either coming to visit or coming to take Ness." Jake met Leah's eyes. "The Cullen's would have told us if they were expecting visitors." And by _expecting_, Jake meant _if Alice had seen them coming._ That was what was really worrying- Alice should have been able to see these guys, right? Either she had seen something and the Cullen's hadn't said anything or she hadn't, and the Cullens knew nothing. He couldn't help but wonder what the half-breeds could be using as a way to dodge Alice's visions. He knew that Nahuel had spent weeks with Alice and Jasper- did he know her well enough to know how her power worked? He hoped not. Maybe she just hadn't been looking. It was a sad day when his best hope was that Alice was being inattentive. Having said that… he knew she was upset over the pain she'd caused when she'd announced he was dead. Maybe she doubted herself, now?

"You are correct. The Quileute people in California do not appear to share your gifts. We assume-" Leah cut her off.

"We don't care why. We don't need to know _why_. We have bigger things to worry about. I'll put the call out- double up patrols until they get here. We should spread out, widen the patrols; extend into Forks, at least." She glanced sideways at Jake. "Are we still doing that thing this evening, or should we bring it forward?" Jake blinked, once, before realizing what she meant.

"We shouldn't change it. We have plenty to keep us busy between now and then. Can you get Sue, and Old Quil? They should be here for this." He paused. "Actually- we should go to your place. I'll get Rachel and meet you there?" Leah nodded, standing up.

"Anything else, boss?" There was a note of teasing in her voice that only Jake would recognize.

"Not right now, wench." She pushed past him, grinning, and out the back door. Several minutes later, they heard her bark from the woods. Jake glared at Daniel when the Crow grinned and the smaller man wilted a little.

"We need to move to Lee's place- the rest of the council will meet us there." Diana narrowed her eyes, gazing at him intently.

"Is this because you don't want your sister to discover the truth of the legends? Because you don't trust her?" Jacob's glare snapped to her, then, pinning her in place with it's fierceness. She refused to wilt as her son had done, but she did move backward slightly.

"I trust Becca. Of course I trust Becca. But she has a life that has nothing to do with any of this, and I will do whatever it takes to let her keep that." There was a definite threat in his words but to his surprise Diana grinned, and stood up.

"As it should be. Let's get going. I've wanted to meet Sue Clearwater for two decades, now."

A shiver, just a tiny one, crept down Jake's spine at the idea of those particular women meeting and, God forbid, _being friends. _

Unfortunately for Jake, he was unerringly correct. Sue and Diana were, within ten minutes of meeting, chatting with friendly ease. Charlie wasn't there- thankfully- and Daniel and Marianne removed themselves to the porch where they were instructed to watch for the wolves. Jake was seated in the living room with his sister, watching as the two elder women bonded over recipes and shifter children- Rachel, it seemed, was at least as amused by it all as he was, which was something. At least it proved he wasn't insane. Sort of.

"Leah'll be here in five minutes and then we can get started." He announced. Sue glanced at him in question, but he ignored her.

"You can be so accurate with your mate bond already? So soon?" Diana _hmm'ed_. "Impressive." Jake blinked; and then balked completely at the stare Sue Clearwater leveled at him.

"You have mate-bonded my daughter and didn't see fit to tell me?" Her voice was like ice and, beside him, Jake could feel Rachel shaking with silent laughter.

"Uh… yes?" Sue's faced turned an interesting shade of purple and Jake could sense and epic Clearwater bitching-out coming. "In my defense- she totally made the first move." That was a complete lie. He didn't care. The purple receded, just a bit. Sue swung her glare onto Diana.

"What does this mean? Is my daughter _married_ to this _child_?" Jake couldn't even pretend to be offended- he was just relieved to have her attention off him. Diana spared him a glance and a grin.

"Something like that, I suppose, although it's much less formal and much more lasting." Her grin widened. "A mate-bond cannot be broken, after all." She noticed Jake pale (he'd _known_ that, but hearing it out loud? Scary as fuck) and continued, her smile growing even larger. "They aren't all that common, really- mate-bonds are only for the 'Alpha pair' as you call it; the leaders of the pack. Everyone else has to make do with regular relationships."

"Really? _Everyone_ else?" Rachel prodded. Diana nodded, oblivious, and Rachel shared a glance with Sue. What the hell was imprinting then? Something exclusive to the wolves at La Push alone?

"Don't feel left out, sweetie. The mate-bond exists for a reason- to protect the people. We need strong, united leadership in order to be effective. That means that the best pair to do that will be matched together. We don't know if they love each other because of the bond, or if they bond because they love each other." Diana made a face, "No-one wants to know, I think. It's more romantic that way. Your love is just as special, even if it's not pre-destined."

Rachel, unable to stop herself, burst into raucous laughter, gripping her brother's arm tightly in one hand- had he not been wolf, it might have even hurt.

"Jake, this chick can't help us. At all." She gasped the words out, and he would have worried if she didn't look so genuinely amused. He wasn't sure how much of the amusement was due to the use of the word _chick_ though. His sister was odd, sometimes. "We may all be Native- but we are _nothing_ like those Crows."

That was surprisingly not a helpful revelation. He'd known, of course, that they were different- Diana was aging, for one. That was a dead giveaway that there was something going on. And, despite the image she might be trying to present, Diana knew very, very little about what they were actually like. His father had, it seemed, made damned sure she never found out. He was beginning to understand why. She was kind of patronizing and her kids were annoying. All the same… she'd come to warn them. That counted for something, he knew. They were the same, sort of. They just had different reasons; different jobs to do. He'd leave it to Sue and Quil to figure out everything else after that- he didn't care. Not right then, anyway. Not when there was a coven of murderous half-vampires on their way to Forks.

His revelation of complete disinterest didn't stop Diana from looking shocked and glaring at Rachel as she laughed. Sue was shaking her head, upset at the commotion, and even Marianne and Daniel ducked back inside to see what was happening. Rachel had quietened- giggling to herself now, instead of outright guffaws. Jake held his hand on her shoulder, ready to push her out of the way if the Crow sitting opposite decided to lunge. What? It could happen. She'd been locked in a crate and laughed at- that would drive even the most sensible of people to do crazy shit.

"I don't understand what is so funny, young lady." Her tone was brim full of condescension, enough that even Sue paused in her tutting to glance sideways at the other woman.

"I'm sure there's a lot of shit you don't understand." Leah Clearwater, his love, his life: his saviour. She waltzed into the house, Old Quil following close behind her. "Hey Ma. Quil, this is Diana, Crow shifter- Diana, this is Quil. He's our longest-serving Council member." And then she flopped onto the floor beside Rachel, not even asking why the other woman's face was red and she was short of breath.

"Okay. Let's get this started, so we can get back to the fact that my only daughter has been mate-bonded and didn't tell me."

Leah paled. Considerably.

* * *

All in all, it was a very uncomfortable afternoon. The Crow people had little other news of the half-breeds, or little they chose to share, anyway; Sue was incensed at Leah and Jacob's news and Quil did his best to keep up, but he really wasn't sure what they were talking about half the time. Add to that Rachel's fits of giggles and the twins generally being really annoying, and Jake was in no mood to face the bloodsuckers when they finally finished.

He counted it as a victory when he stood up to leave; to meet Carlisle, that Diana didn't insist on attending with him. He made a note to keep an eye on the skies as he made his way over- and to have Paul do the same in La Push.

"I think we're done here, for now. I need to get home and head over to the Cullen's." He reached out a hand for Leah and dragged her into standing position. "Rachel, can you remind Paul that he'd better be keeping an eye out for crows?" He ignored the protests from the Crow leader. "Sorry Diana, you know how it goes- we can never be too careful."

He left La Push happily, with Leah running ahead of him, somewhere over to his left. The background chatter of the boys' talking on patrol faded as he concentrated solely on running, focusing completely on the ground in front of him. It was the only way he knew for sure to stop his thoughts leaking out- and it worked, mostly, unless they spoke to him directly. Leah, who had always had far better control of the thoughts she shared, filled them all in on what had happened. Paul, Jared, Sam and Quil all reacted the same way when Leah replayed Rachel's spazz-out: they laughed, too. The very idea that their imprints were anything _other_ than destiny, or fate, or ordained by the spirits or whatever, was enough to entertain them for the afternoon. How else could it be explained? Biology? That theory worked up until no-one imprinted on Becca Black, or on Claire's newly born sister, or Claire's _mother_ for that matter. Jake let their laughter wash over him, his eyes focused on the ground, intent on the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears. Imprinting wasn't something he wanted to think about- even though he'd apparently gone a step further with Leah already. But _that_ just made his head hurt. He was only eighteen. Should he really be thinking about marriage?

Unfortunately for him, that thought slipped out and Leah heard it- growling at him in her mind and from a few metres ahead.

_Too late now, Jake. You stepped up. Live with it. _She didn't sound genuinely angry, and he felt a wave of affection for her- which she noted and unfortunately, so did everyone else. It seemed their nervousness around him had dispersed- they had no qualms about laughing at him, teasing and making jokes about how whipped he was, right up until he reached the treeline by the Cullen house. He ignored them all, focused on his goal, and left it to Leah to handle- something she did exceptionally well.

_Listen to Paul._ He snapped out, phasing to human before they could respond. Leah followed, seconds later. He didn't watch her dress- he had enough to think about without trying to clear his mind of her naked body. He pulled on his cut offs and shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the images that had invaded it with just the thought of her. It was very… distracting.

"You ready Lee?" His voice felt out of place; unnatural after running as wolf, even if only for a few minutes. That was something else that was new since Sam had stepped aside- speech was an effort, now, especially in those few minutes after phasing. Guarding his mind in wolf form was easier; threading through the others minds and picking out their thoughts was easier; his focus was greater, his concentration sharper. The Jacob he had been a week before would not have captured a crow in a crate, knowing it was a person. The Jacob of a week ago would not have spoken to the Elder of the Crow tribe as he had; or to the Cullen coven as he had done the last time he had been here with Leah.

The Jacob of a week ago- jeez, had it really been only a week? - would have left the planning to Carlisle and Sam about the half-vampires.

Leah broke him from his thoughts, walking to him and pushing her body close to him, pressing her nose into his neck and breathing deep.

"Come on. We have a job to do." She led him by the land, tugging him along when he stopped to scan the skies or breathe in the scents on the wind. She didn't say anything- she didn't have to. She already knew what he was thinking; what he was going through. Her own changes had been less extreme- she had calmed down; mellowed out, a little, with the loss of her anger toward Sam. She felt comfortable in her own skin for the first time in years. She dragged him onward, trusting that the boys would patrol against the Crows and that any sighting or smell of the half-breeds would be brought straight to them, regardless of the Cullens. She didn't bother knocking when she reached the front door- they would already know she was here.

To say she was surprised to find them _all_ there would be an understatement. Carlisle and Esme were standing by the fireplace. Bella, Nessie and Alice were seated together on the massive white sofa. The three boys- Jasper, Edward and Emmett lined the rear wall of the living room- the glass wall, facing out onto the woods. Rosalie was perched by the piano. It was odd, seeing them all there. Seeing Jasper and Emmett placed so clearly on either side of Edward, and Rosalie and Alice placed between him and Bella- all designed, she supposed, to stop him if he decided to try something. Her responding grin was wolfish, and aimed directly at him.

Maybe that was one other change, she supposed. She was more wolf now, sometimes, as a human that she had been before, as a wolf. Edward, if he could, paled a little.

"Carlisle. I thought this was going to be a quiet meeting." There was no humour in Jake's voice. None at all.

The eldest Vampire conceded the point with a nod, but gestured to Alice.

"Alice told me that we all needed to be here. I trust her judgment." That comment wasn't for his benefit- it was for the tiny psychic's. He'd been right. She _had _doubted herself.

"Okay." His eyes swept the room, again, meeting each gaze before landing back on Carlisle. "If the mind-leech moves, I will kill him." Edward's eyes dropped to the floor, and a flash of pain crossed his face. Neither wolf could bring themselves to care, although Bella looked pained. Nessie, curled in her mother's arms, appeared alarmed but said nothing.

"The renegotiation goes like this- if any one of you _ever_ harms another human, your lives are forfeit. The only exception is for if you are protecting Nessie, or another innocent human. That's it- no other excuses." Jacob pinned Jasper with his glare. "Do you understand, Jasper? I don't mean Forks. I don't mean in my lifetime. I mean, _ever._" It was a promise he could make, now, with the Crow nation tucked in his back pocket. Jasper, who must have felt hard done by in being singled out, simply nodded. "Nessie is the only half-vampire we will tolerate, unless others emerge that are vegetarian like her. Any Vampire we meet with red eyes will be destroyed." Carlisle nodded, slowly. "We will be expanding our patrols to Forks, and north as far as we need to. We won't interrupt your hunting." Jake shot Leah a glance and raised an eyebrow. She nodded, once, in agreement. "And in return, you only have to ask for our help if you need it. Anytime." Rosalie's eyes widened and Bella whimpered a little. They hadn't been expecting that. At all. Alice, however, grinned.

"Thank you, Jacob!" Her voice was like music, even to his ears. "I knew there was a reason I trusted you." He graced her with a small smile.

"Are we agreed?" One by one, they nodded. Carlisle, who had been taking notes, handed a copy of the terms to Jake. He didn't read them- just pushed them into his pocket.

"Excellent. Now, with that out of the way, we have news." Leah took a few steps and hopped up onto the lid of the piano, not far from Rosalie. Jacob stayed where he was, in the doorway, doing an excellent statue impression. "Your friend Nahuel is on his way here, probably for Nessie, and he's brought his coven with him- three half-breeds like him and his aunt. They're carving a bloody path across the country." She grinned again and licked her lips, allowing the news to sink in.

"It's likely that they will all be killed as soon as we catch their scent. The only question is… did you know they were coming?" Alice looked shocked- her face the picture of disbelief.

"I haven't seen anything! I would _know_ if they were coming! I would. I would _see_ that!" Leah raised an eyebrow as the tiny Vampire stuttered and spluttered to herself, before she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate.

"How do you know they're coming?" Bella asked, her grip on her daughter tightening.

"We know. Isn't that enough?" The one thing that Diana had insisted on was that her presence- and the existence of her people at all- be kept from the Vampires. It was a fair trade, in Jake's mind. The Crow people had spent generations following the movements of vampires across the continent. Their advantage was in their invisibility. He wouldn't be the one to take that from them. "Edward, can you read my thoughts, now?" The leech shook his head- no.

"Your mind is like molasses, now. The thoughts are there, but they're hidden behind a wave of protection that I can't get through." _Good_. It was about time he had his mind to himself. Well, sort of.

On the couch, Alice gasped suddenly.

"I see them, now. They're… they're moving quickly but... I can't tell when they'll get here. Within a week, I think." She paused, taking an unnecessary breath. "He's using his knowledge of my gift to dodge me- concentrating only on the next few minutes; the next hour, all the time. They have no plan in mind, nothing concrete but…I think you were right. He's coming for Ness."

"Well, he can't have her. She's a _child._" Bella's disapproval was clear, even though she had quite liked Nahuel when she had met him last. Nessie, unusually, stayed quiet too.

"We can't kill him, can we? I mean… he's half human, too. He could be Nessie's only chance for-" Rosalie cut herself off, not willing to say the words aloud. Both Bella and Edward shot her nasty glares regardless. Leah laughed.

"Ness is a baby, Rosalie. And if her only option for love is gonna be a mass murderer who shows no sign of remorse, then perhaps she'll be better off as a spinster?" Nessie looked up, meeting Leah's eyes, and nodded once.

"I believe that Leah is correct. Having seen what it means to die and be dead, forever, I have no wish to have any kind of relationship with him. I am not like him, nor his sisters. They were created in pain and hatred and fear. I was not." Jacob allowed himself a moment of pride in her before he spoke.

"Besides that, you have agreed already- they're not vegetarian, so they will not be spared." Bella looked uneasy- a frown marring her perfect features.

"You had us agree to that before you mentioned that they're on their way, Jake. That's hardly fair! Everyone deserves a chance to change." She sounded disappointed in him. "When did you become so manipulative?"

He didn't answer her, sharing a glance that spoke volumes with Leah, instead. Bella, who had never liked being ignored, repeated herself loudly, standing up and dropping her daughter onto Alice's knee.

"We can't allow you to murder them, Jake, not without proof that they have been killing! You have to give them a chance to be different! To be like us!" A week ago, it would have stung to not be included in Bella's _us._

"I am going to do what I have to do to protect my people, Bella. You can disagree with my methods, but the time when your whining or even your opinion would change my mind has passed. These creatures are murderers. They have destroyed the lives of families across the continent on their way to indoctrinate _your_ daughter. They will find their deaths here, on the Olympic peninsula. And if you stand in my way, then so will you." She was visibly shaken.

"Jake- this isn't right! You know this isn't right! They can be different; they can _change_ and be different. You have to at least give them that chance!" She was still so innocent; so naïve, even as a monster.

"No Bella. I don't." He met Carlisle's gaze once more. "Call me if you learn anything new. At least two of the boys will be in the woods surrounding the house at all times."

And he left. Leah watched him stalk off and she slid slowly off the piano. Bella was still standing, shell shocked, in the centre of the room. No-one else dared speak, and Emmett continued to hold Edward back. Bella wasn't talking to him, still, so she would not appreciate the comfort he wanted to offer.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, Bella, but your coven? That's the _exception_, not the _rule_. I really thought you would have learned that by now?" With a cheerful wave to Carlisle and Esme, Leah left.

The Vampires watched her go in silence, all except Alice, who was sitting with her eyes scrunched up and a look of intense concentration on her face. Edward, watching what she was seeing, was also distracted.

"What are we going to do? We can't just let them be killed." Bella's voice was anguished; had she still been human, she would likely be in tears.

"Mother, Leah is correct. If these creatures are killing people, despite knowing that there is another way, then the Wolves at La Push have no choice but to extinguish them."

Bella made a noise, halfway between a sigh and a sob.

"But they're like _you_, Renesmee. They're the only other people like you in the world, maybe." The little girl stared up at her mother from her aunt's lap.

"That doesn't mean they should be allowed to live. Jacob has allowed me to live, despite the terrible thing I did to him. He has allowed father to live, despite knowing about it all this time. He has allowed us to stay here and cling to the life that vibrates around him, when he has every right to demand we leave." The child looked older, far older, than her years.

"But we should give them a _chance_, at least. They could be good- could become good, like Jasper did. Like all of us." Silence followed her words- wasn't she right? They had all been given a chance to be good. Except for Bella, they all had human blood on their hands- they'd all killed humans. Carlisle, for all his goodness, had sentenced four of them to eternal life as monsters.

"I don't know what it is you see when you look at Jacob anymore, Bella, but he's not the same boy you toyed with for years. He's not the same boy your daughter manipulated. He walked in here, to a coven of eight of his mortal enemies and promised to kill us all if we disobeyed his terms." Rosalie stood up, running one hand through her hair and glancing around at her family. "The choice to give them a chance isn't ours to make. It's his, and he has already made it."

"That's not true Rosalie- he's my best friend; I _know_ him. Jacob won't do this- he won't. He won't just sentence them to death without giving them a chance to be better." She sounded confident, her voice clear and strong. Rosalie didn't respond as she'd hoped though- the blonde laughed, instead, loudly.

"Clearly, _Bells_, you're delusional. Jacob Black is not your best friend. You haven't spoken to him properly since the day you died, and you haven't even _noticed._ Think about it- when was the last time you had a proper conversation with him?" Bella couldn't answer; she couldn't remember. Her heart ached. Rosalie pressed on, regardless on the hurt that flashed across her sister-in-law's face. "I think it's time we all accepted that we're not the top of the food chain around here anymore- we're here at their mercy." She paused, biting her lower lip and taking an unnecessary breath. "And that's exactly the way it should be." Emmett, Carlisle and Esme murmured their agreement. Bella shot them all glares, and Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"You're telling me you think that the wolves are _better_ than us?" Bella scoffed. "Pull the other one Rosalie- you hate them. You've always hated them. You call them dogs and mock them to their faces!" Rosalie laughed again, but it was bitter and sad.

"You don't get it Bella. Give it fifty years and maybe you'll understand then- we're damned. We don't change. We're a parasite on humanity. Of course they're better than us- they're designed to stop us; to kill the parasites. They're the defenders that the earth itself has given to the world to protect her. And somehow, they've seen past everything that we are, and allowed us to live even after we broke their treaty." She sounded almost as if she didn't believe it, somehow. "I won't speak for the rest of you, but I would never have done that, so yeah, I think they're better than us. More _important_ than us."

"But… it's _Jacob._ He's… Jacob. He's funny and easy and friendly but-" She cut herself off, almost appalled by what she'd been about to say.

"But what, Bella? But he's never going to leave the reservation? He's not going to graduate at the top of his class? Is he not smart enough for you? Rich enough?" If she'd been Jake's friend, like she'd claimed, she wouldn't have been surprised that Emmett jumped in to defend him, too. She'd have known that, of all of the Cullen vampires, Emmett was the closest one to what Jacob would call _friend._ "Rose is right. We're not the ones in control here, not anymore. And that's the way it should be. We're not top dog anymore." His words got a laugh from Rosalie and a grin from Jasper- his aim, in part.

Edward, who had been listening intently, moved forward to take Nessie from Alice's arms as the psychic's grip loosened. She shook her head, violently, and trembled a little.

"What's wrong? What's happening to her?" Jasper, for once, sounded panicked.

"She's fine- she's just… she found Nahuel, by concentrating on the people that he has hurt most recently. The dogs were right- they're carving a path across the continent, and they plan on lying to us about it when they get here. Nahuel knows how Alice's gift works, so he has been focusing on the torture he has planned for Jacob. Torture and death- to get Jacob out of Nessie's life. He doesn't know yet that the imprint was false." The vampire paused, clutching his daughter closer to his chest. "He decided that he needed to remove him before Nessie got too old; too attached." Nessie's eyes filled with tears at the idea- it had hurt enough to lose her connection to Jacob, she didn't want to lose him again. "There's more but they keep changing their plans; changing their route, deliberately to confuse Alice's vision."

He fell silent as Alice's eyes opened. If she could have, she would be crying.

"We can't let Nahuel get to Nessie. We can't. Something is different- he's changed. Last year… last year he was normal; he was okay. But he's not okay anymore. He's like a black hole of rage and hatred and he's going to kill anything that gets between him and Ness." She swallowed hard, her face a mask of pain. "I never want to see into him again. Please don't make me." Jasper swept her up in his arms, cradling her to his chest and whispering comforting words in her ear.

Her revelations effectively squashed Bella's objections, and the coven's decision was made- they'd be standing with the wolves against their former ally, and doing what they could to protect their youngest.

It would have been nice, in hindsight, if one of them had thought to warn Jacob about just how much Nahuel wanted to see him hurt.

* * *

A/N: Questions? Comments? The Cullens are a little OOC, I think- any thoughts on that would be welcomed. :)


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine. Le sigh.

A/N: Thanks to everyone following this, and for all your reviews; comments and suggestions. They're all very much appreciated. :)

* * *

They spent several days tensed, waiting. Marianne and Daniel were officially the two most annoying people Jacob had ever met- and he'd met Quil and Embry. The patrols were tripled, stretching out beyond their original borders- north, almost to the Makah reservation, and south, into Forks and beyond toward Olympia. The Cullens even joined them, sometimes- Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie, taking it in turns to run the border and check for anything the wolves might have missed. The Crows patrolled too, but they stayed away from the Cullens, and the Quileute's had no way to communicate with them anyway. Jake found it strange, giving orders to the Vampires and having them listen to him. It was twilight-zone stuff, he thought. Leah agreed, in between jokes about how to train his pet vampires. Strangely, the Cullen's didn't seem to mind the jokes. Jake didn't get it, but didn't spend much time thinking about it, either. He was very much in favour of just accepting it, and moving on.

Besides, he had other things to occupy his mind- in between school and patrols and worrying about the imminent invasion (he knew they'd win- they had no other choice- but he didn't want anyone to get hurt or worse, killed, and he wasn't sure how to prevent that) he had lawyers and hospital bills and council duties to attend to. The ballot had been cast three days after the funeral- the day after the meeting with the Cullens- and, surprise, surprise, Jacob won with a landslide vote. Old Quil, who had overseen the count, had commented that the only spoiled votes appeared to have been the packs- several votes which had come in for 'The Big Dog', which he couldn't rightly count as for Jacob, despite the obvious intention. In any case, it was an overwhelming majority. Unfortunately, after the votes were cast and the decision made, Jake had to fulfil the rest of the tradition- the spirit quest into the woods; alone except for the hallucinogenic drugs provided by the native church in Makah. Well, it was classified as a 'church'. Technically, La Push didn't have a shaman or a medicine mad so they weren't quite qualified as having a 'church'- but they got around that by having the chief be their religious leader, too. They'd had to order twice as much peyote as for a normal spirit quest (and how he was going to hide _that_ in the books, he had no idea) to account for his size and his metabolism. Old Quil had done the calculations- peyote trips normally lasted thirty hours. Quil reckoned that Jake would only manage ten, but that would be sufficient. The little cactus slices were hidden in his home, under a stack of old dishes in the kitchen cupboard. Anyone with a nose (i.e. the pack) would be able to find it in seconds, but he was more worried about Claire coming across the stash. _That_ would not be a fun conversation to have with her parents. The Quest was set to start on Tuesday at dusk, nominally ending on Thursday morning, and involved Jake (essentially) getting high under the supervision of Old Quil and wandering off into the forest on his own until his spirit guide told him to stop and meditate. That was the general idea, anyway. The wolves were under strict instruction from Old Quil that they were not to follow him- he was to be _alone_ for the duration.

Leah, of course, had instructed the opposite- that they were to know exactly where he was at all times. There would be a phased wolf within a mile of their Alpha at all times, ready to call for backup. It could be needless, of course- who knew if the drug would even take affect? Then all that would happen is that Jake would be alone and hungry for a day. He could live with that.

He woke up that Tuesday morning, back in his own bed in his father's house. Ben had gone home and although Becca had stayed on, she had insisted on taking the couch. He'd crashed out early the night before, worn out from a day of constant patrolling. He woke up to find Leah wrapped around him; something he definitely wasn't going to complain about. She had not been there when he fell asleep and he couldn't stop the warm, fuzzy, feeling that bubbled up a the knowledge that she'd come to see him. She'd been… distant, or something, for a few days. He thought maybe Sue had said something or done something, or maybe she was having second thoughts all on her own, but whatever it was, he hadn't wanted to push it. Knowing that she'd come to him; that she'd chosen to sleep in his stupid twin bed with him... Well. That was just the kind of thing that his teenage fantasies were made of. Her head was buried in the curve of his neck and he inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of her, and tightened the grip that his arms had on her waist, pulling her closer. He was certain she was still asleep, up until the point where her teeth grazed the pulse point at his throat and she growled quietly. Her lips followed her teeth, marking a trail up his neck even as her hands trailed up his bare back to grip his hair. When their lips met, she swallowed his groan, twisting her body to lay him on his back as she straddled him, arching her back and pushing herself against his sudden hardness.

"Morning." She sounded amused, but there was definite lust crowding her voice.

"Morning." He was near-breathless, already, gripping her hips in his hands and pulling her closer to him, wishing that there wasn't two layers of clothing between them.

The part of him that was still a teenage boy with his own personal wet dream in his bed wanted nothing more than to peel off her clothing and have her scream his name. Or he could scream hers- he wouldn't mind either. The part of him that was Alpha, that was in charge? That part wanted to know what had been wrong; what had been keeping her away from him up to now.

As it turned out, she seemed to know what he was thinking, and she met his questioning gaze evenly.

"I went to see the Vamp doctor." She offered. "I wanted to know…" She hesitated, biting her lip and dropping her gaze in a move that seemed too _shy_ to be Leah Clearwater. When she didn't continue, he prompted her softly,

"Wanted to know… what?"

"I needed to know if I could get pregnant." She admitted, her voice low. Pregnant? Jesus, Mary and all the rest of them- he had never even contemplated _children_. He was _eighteen_. Eighteen was no age to have children- not when he was effectively unemployed but with three full time jobs. His face must have shown his terror, because she giggled.

"That's kinda how I felt- that's why I went to him." She pressed her lips to his, briefly, reassuring herself that he was still there. "He ran some tests- apparently, I _can_ have children but it's what Mom said, back when I phased first. She said then that I wouldn't be able to have kids while I was phasing, because my body wouldn't be aging or growing anymore." He relaxed beneath her, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Which is a good thing, because I couldn't take the pill, and condoms are hard to carry around when you don't have pockets." She grinned, wickedly. "Speaking of hard…" And he moaned as she shifted her lower body, creating some delicious friction.

"So that's why you've been avoiding me?" He couldn't help it- he had to know if there was something else. If there _was_, then she had to just tell him. He couldn't handle any more yo-yoing with his heart. He was pretty sure he couldn't take it. If she wanted out, now was the time to say it. Of course, he was a _dude_. He wasn't going to say that out loud so he hoped she was a mind-reader in her human form.

She blushed, a little, and nodded.

"I love you Jake, but I am in no way ready to have your babies. And my self-control around you is pretty limited these days so… yeah. I kinda spent a day or two avoiding you." He growled, suddenly, grasping her waist and flipping them over in a move she was pretty sure she could replicate.

"It's closer to three." And he tugged her shirt, popping the buttons open as he ripped it from her torso. Not unusually, she wasn't wearing a bra, and his eyes darkened with lust. "I have some time to make up, I think." He straddled her, pushing her body into the mattress from his weight- but the hardness she could feel rubbing against her more than made up for the fact that she couldn't move her hips. She gasped as his mouth found her breasts- his teeth gently gripping one of her nipples and teasing her with his lips and tongue, even as his other hand trapped her wrists against the headboard. He released her breast with an audible _pop_ and grinned up at her. "Be quiet, or I might have to stop and make _you_ wait another three days." Trapped beneath him with her hands held above her head, she could only giggle.

"Maybe you should fuck me, so hard that I forget how to talk? I'll be quiet, then." The teasing tone was back, and he could only grin widely.

"That sounds like a plan Lee. Let's try that, shall we?" The room might have been half-dark, still, but he had no trouble seeing her nod, her pupils wide with anticipation.

* * *

Unfortunately for Becca, who was trying to sleep on the couch, and Rachel, who was trying to sleep without Paul for once (he had night patrols, which ran till dawn), Jake never actually managed to shut Leah up. About half and hour into the- very vocal- performance, Rachel began to understand what she'd been doing to Jake for so long, as she shared a room with Paul. And Jake had wolf ears- she had normal, human ears and she _still_ didn't want to hear any of it. She forced herself up, promising hot chocolate and some earplugs (they had to have some, somewhere, right?) and ran into her sister in the hallway. It may have been a long time since they had lived together, but sometimes they did things that reminded Rachel that they really were twins.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?" Becca offered, keeping her voice low. Rachel stifled a giggle.

"Not anymore, anyway." They tiptoed into the kitchen and Becca flicked on the light, wincing against the sudden brightness. "I should have known that letting Leah in last night was going to end like this." Rachel made a face, "Poor Seth." She suddenly understood the glares Seth had been aiming at his sister and his best friend- this was not something any sibling should have to hear. From the kitchen, the sound was dulled- thankfully- so Becca sat as Rachel made hot chocolate and even managed to root out some cookies from her hiding place (Underneath the sink, in Tupperware wrapped in plastic).

"Is he even legal yet? We could get her arrested for fornicating with a minor." Rachel giggled, imagining the look on Charlie Swan's face if he had to arrest Sue's child for fucking Billy's. Maybe she'd have to mention it, actually, just to _see_.

"Somehow, I don't think Charlie could withstand the wrath of Sue Clearwater. Of course, if we made a big deal to Sue, she might force Leah into a chastity belt and that would solve our problem." The two girls laughed and Rachel reveled in the moment- enjoying her sister's company without the edge of tension that had accompanied the last week. They laughed, and joked and shared stories about Jake as a kid and about their parents and all the things they had wanted to do when they were kids. Rachel couldn't be certain but she thought that, without Ben around, her sister was a little easier to read; less tense and judgmental. Of course, it could be the sleep deprivation. It wasn't long before their conversation took a more serious turn- but the thread of angry tension that had been there before was gone, thankfully.

"I don't understand when you changed your mind, Rach. You used to hate this place every bit as much as I do. We dreamed of leaving and of never coming back; of having amazingly successful careers and marrying rich, powerful men and just… getting as far away from here as humanly possible." Rachel, for once, ignored the urge in her mind to scream and yell and slap her sister. Becca was right- Rachel had felt the same way, for a long time.

"I guess… I don't know, Becks. When I finished college, I got offered a job in Chicago- a trainee position, sure, but it was good money and a great city, and I thought, 'Yeah, I can move to Chicago.' " Becca said nothing, stunned. "And then… I started thinking about it. I hadn't been home in four years. Jake was _sixteen_ and I couldn't figure out how that had happened; how time had passed so quickly. I came home…" She paused, and let her voice lower. She wasn't about to let Jake hear this- no way, no how. "I came home to convince Dad to let Jake come with me to Chicago. I thought I could look after him; get him away from here and into a good school so he could make something of his life. But when I got here, Jake was already gone and Dad needed someone to look after him. He didn't _say_ anything- he would have let me leave again and never said a word but… Jesus, Becca. This house isn't exactly wheelchair friendly and dad was getting old, you know?" She swallowed hard, forcing back the tears in her eyes and the lump in her throat. She _needed_ to get this out- she needed Becca to understand. Everyone said it was Paul who made her stay- that her imprint was the only thing that kept her here… but Rachel knew that wasn't true. No siree. Her decision to stay, at least until Jake came back, was made long before she ran into Paul on the beach. "I didn't realize, before, how much work it was, just looking after him. Jake was a kid. He was twelve years old and we just left him here and fucked off to make our new lives and thought it would be okay because Dad would look after him, and Dad never said anything different, and Daddy was _proud_ of us."

Becca felt her own eyes tear up, but she didn't interrupt; didn't offer her sister any comfort. "So we left Jake, and he cleaned the house; did the laundry; did the grocery shopping every week. He learned how to fix the truck because it was falling apart and they couldn't afford a mechanic. He made sure Dad was dressed every morning and did the exercises with his legs, and somehow, in the middle of all that, he managed to fall in love with the _one_ girl in the whole world self-centered enough to not notice what a great fucking man he was growing into. And she left him- he wasn't _enough_ for her." Rachel bit back her anger- it wasn't even aimed at Bella Swan; it was aimed at herself and at Becca too. "This place wasn't _enough_ for her and she almost broke him. _We_ almost broke him." A few tears she couldn't control fell, dripping onto the table. "That's why I stayed, Becks. I stayed because I finally realized that this place- Dad, Jake, you- is my home. They most important people in the world to me, and they needed me to be here. Paul… when I met Paul, it felt like he was my reward for finally realizing what the truth had been all along." She wiped her eyes and drank the last mouthful of her hot chocolate. "So I didn't go to Chicago. I stayed, and I will be staying, and I don't regret a single thing about it." They lapsed back into silence for a few minutes, before Becca reached out and took her hand.

"Do you hate me? For not coming back? For still hating this place?"

"No Becks. I could never hate you. I'm proud of you." And it was true. Becca was living the dream- she was successful, happy and carefree. Rachel had moments of jealousy, but never hatred. "I'm happy for you. I just wish you could be happy for me." At that, Rachel stood and wished her sister goodnight- the sounds from the bedroom had faded, and the light was breaking across the garden. It was almost dawn. Jake would be leaving soon, and Paul would be home. For a while, at least. A few minutes later, she waved to Jake from her window as he padded off toward the meeting centre, where Old Quil was to be waiting for him. Paul met him at the drive and she was heartened to see them embrace in a ridiculous man-hug. Her fiancée was happy, finally, after months of being miserable in the pack. She could see it, now, and she'd caught glimpses of it before- but Paul would never have been happy, serving under Sam. His human side was loyal; intensely so- so much so that he'd backed Sam for whatever Sam wanted, even if it meant Jared was Beta or they were attacking a baby. She knew it was mostly gratitude- he'd had a horrendous time, when he'd phased first. He'd told her about it- how he thought he'd gone mad, like his grandmother, trapped inside his own head in a body that wasn't his, hearing the voices of guys he didn't even know in his head. They all forgot, sometimes, that Paul, Jared and Sam had never been friends, before. Sam and Jared had been- had known each other since they were in diapers. But Paul had very few friends before he'd joined the pack- he'd been poor and angry and every inch the disaffected youth. It was part of why he had hated Jacob so much- Jake, who could make friends in an empty room. And now? Now, Paul was finally exactly where he was supposed to be- at Jake's right hand, with no conflicting gratitude disguised as friendship tying him to Sam. Despite the circumstances, Rachel couldn't have been happier about that particular change- everyone else was seeing in Paul, now, what she had always seen. And Jake had chosen him- over and above Seth, Embry and Quil, and trusted him, and the wolf side of Paul was finally, mercifully, happy. She watched her brother walk away and as Paul ambled toward the house, she allowed herself a grin. She was happy too.

Well. As long as Becca didn't ask Paul where he'd been.

It was less than three hours later- just pushing eight am, when Rachel re-emerged from her room. She'd slept, some, and felt a hundred times better than the morning before. There was something to be said for the cathartic value of venting. Plus, Paul had done his best to make her _very_ tired. She would have considered it payback to Leah, but she was pretty sure that the she-wolf had been so focused on Jake's absence that she hadn't even noticed. Speaking of Leah, the other woman was perched on the counter top in the kitchen, watching Paul cook breakfast. Becca was snoring on the couch, so they were being quiet. Well, as quiet as two werewolves could be. There was a lot of snark and hitting involved in their 'quiet'.

"Morning Lee." Rachel whispered. "Eventful night?" Paul, who had _definitely _noticed the smell of sweat and sex that permeated the house (and Leah, despite her shower), barked a laugh and Leah turned an interesting shade of purple and stuttered out a vague,

"Yes, thank you." Paul, whose shoulders were shaking with silent laughter, got smacked on the ass for his trouble- and Rachel couldn't help the possessive glare she aimed at Leah. Leah, when she noticed, merely stuck her tongue out at Rachel and smacked him again. "I've seen inside his head, Rach. There's nothing he could do to make me attracted to him." It was half-joke, half-truth. His head was so full of Rachel, all the time, that there was nothing she could do, anyway, short of a threesome. Paul just grunted dismissively and turned his attention back to the bacon.

"Where's Jake now, then? Has this whole thing kicked off?" It was Leah's turn to glare. Paul answered.

"He left the meeting centre about two hours ago, after speed-drinking six cups of hallucinogenic tea. He is heading north-west, at a jog, and he's about sixteen miles from here already." He glanced at Rachel over his shoulder. "Leah has been informed that she is not allowed anywhere within his scent-range, as lust might overpower the drugs faster. She is also not allowed phase, just in case he does. Seth's watching him." Ah. That explained Leah's clingyness with Paul, she supposed.

"What the hell? Why is _Seth_ following him? And how did he get so far away so fast? And what the hell is phasing?"

The wolves flushed crimson, and Rachel paled. How had they not noticed her standing there? Under her breath, so quietly that only the wolves would hear it, Rachel cursed.

On the roof, they all heard a crow cawing loudly. In fact, it almost sounded like laughter.

* * *

Sixteen miles and a world away, Jacob slowed his jog to a walk and dropped to the ground. His nostrils filled with the scent of sea and earth and his head was spinning; pounding and dancing and he couldn't _think_. Not with, like, words. On the edge of his mind he knew that Seth was there- looking out for him or something, but he couldn't remember why he needed to be looked after. Beneath him, the earth was cool and damp and he could feel the rain fall, hitting his skin and his eyes shut, slowly. His last thought was that they should have realized; should have _known_ that the one thing his body wouldn't burn faster than everything else was the drug indigenous to his people. Duh, much?

And then Jacob was gone.

He would never truly recall what happened next. He remembered leaving the meeting centre and he was following… _something_, someone was _calling_ him and then he sat down and BAM. Blank.

* * *

Seth was about a half mile from his Alpha, watching Jake through one eye- he couldn't see him, sitting slumped on the ground, but he could smell him and hear him, and he knew that the other wolf had stopped moving. It didn't take him long to find a vantage point where he could see his friend, too- Leah had been very clear about it: keep both eyes on Jacob at all times. His sister was a bitch, but he could see the logic. Just as long as she never found out he thought that. He watched for three hours, as the sun rose high into the sky. Jake, as far as he could tell, didn't move an inch in that time. Seth couldn't see his face- Jake was facing the ocean, very close to the cliff where the woods met the sea. It was boring. He'd been hoping for, like, walking into trees and shit. But no- Jake was all responsible and stuff, even when he was as high as a kite, apparently. The others were phased- almost the full pack, save Paul, Leah and Embry. Some of them were patrolling- running the boarders. Jared and Colin were camped out in the Cullen's yard, occasionally switching out with whoever was running the Forks patrol. Tim was asleep, at home, but phased- and his dreams were strange, obviously affected by the on-going patrols, as he seemed to be dreaming of running; endless running. Seth was debating the merits of the X men movies with Brady when Quil arrived to swap over- Seth was to finish Quil's patrol route back to La Push, get some sleep, and return to patrolling later that evening. Quil was to be with Jake until the next patrol crossed over. So far, for all their searching, the only half-vampire they'd seen had been Nessie, when she'd snuck away from her parents to deliver snacks to the wolves in her yard. Edward had not been amused- especially as he hadn't been able to read their thoughts. He also didn't dare to get too close, as Colin growled at him even as Nessie hugged the wolf around the neck and giggled. Seth, sometimes, worried that the child had no sense of self preservation. Jared had thought it was funny- despite his lingering hatred of all things Leech.

_Dude, go- I've got this. All he's doing is sitting there, anyway._ Seth swung his gaze from Jake and met Quil's gaze, mentally shrugging.

_It's times like this that having other people living in your head is a really good thing, because seriously? Sitting in the woods watching your Alpha _sleep_ is uncool. Really, really uncool. _Quil laughed, and head butted the other wolf gently, forcing him in the direction of La Push. Seth sauntered away, disappearing within seconds into the dense forestry. All in all, the exchange took about thirty seconds. When Quil flopped to the ground, exactly where Seth had been sitting, and focused his gaze back to their Alpha, it was no wonder that he was surprised to see that Jake had moved.

Correction. He was surprised to see that Jacob had disappeared.

_Seth?_ He called out, his mental voice panicked.

_What, dude? I'm like, ten feet away. Are you lonely already?_

_Jake's gone. _Quil was on his feet, racing to the spot where his Alpha had been, thinking of all the ways that Leah was going to kill him.

_Gone? Gone, how? _Seth followed him, and he could hear the others questioning, turning their attention to him. In his mind, Tim's dreams shifted; changed to the forest around Quil as he came back to waking. There was a distant howl that he was sure was Sam.

_Guys, chill. He can't be gone far._ The memory of the last time the Pack had thought Jake was gone was creeping in- Quil couldn't tell who from, but he could feel it; the ache, just on the edges on his mind, hovering like a dark cloud.

It took them less than five minutes to reach the spot where Jake had been sitting. It took less than that to scour the forest, searching for his scent, before they realized that the only trail he had left had been the one that had walked him to the spot.

The Pack mind fell silent, the dark cloud inching forward, weighing down on them all as Quil and Seth searched again- they back-tracked his old trail for two miles, finding nothing. They moved to the edge of the crumbling cliff, searching for any sign of him in the water below and seeing nothing. He hadn't phased- there were no sense of him in their minds and even though he had gotten better at hiding his thoughts, they could always sense his presence. They were out of ideas; out of places to look for him. The only consolation remained that no-one had so much as scented Vampire- so he was safe, wherever he was, from the enemy that was approaching.

Of course, they had no-way of knowing where he'd disappeared to, and if he'd be safe when he got there, jazzed up on drugs and, apparently, capable of invisibility. He'd left no scent; no trail. Nothing.

_Sam? Get Leah._ Sam's mind clouded and disappeared as he phased to human- he'd been returning from patrol, just entering La Push.

_Is anyone close to one of the Crows?_ Quil suggested.

_Marianne is here with me._ Mike offered.

_Phase- ask her to contact her family and get do a flyover out to the cliffs and back. They might spot something we've missed. _Mike, embarrassed, phased out- he was too young to be naked in front of a woman, even if that woman was a crow. He was back, seconds later, still blushing (if it's possible for a blush to be mental).

_Daniel's on his way. Diana is with Mrs. Clearwater, but Marianne is going to get her. She says that the others should be arriving in an hour or two, and if we haven't found him by then, she'll send them out too. _The Crows had been moving for a few days- some, moving ahead of the half-vampires, and some called in by Diana from their homes.

_Keep the patrols going- don't stop. Jared, can you check with Edward? See if he's heard anything?_ It was unlikely, given that Edward couldn't reach them any more, but it was worth a shot. The boys responded- returning to the patrols they had abandoned, and Jared phased out briefly to speak to the Leeches. They had all promised to remain inside Casa Del Leech for the duration of Jake's spirit quest- no-one wanted any accidents, and they really had no idea of what to expect from it, so it had been a safety precaution. Given that Jake had since disappeared, it seemed to have been a good idea. Unfortunately, neither Edward or Alice could shed any light on it, and apparently both Rosalie and Emmett were kind of amused by the fact that they'd managed to lose him.

'_How do you _LOSE_ a giant shape shifter?' _She'd laughed, and they all heard her through Colin's mind.

Good question.

* * *

Leah bit her lip, preventing a scream. Becca was eyeing them all suspiciously, still. Paul had fobbed her off earlier, muttering some nonsense about bears being seen in the woods and Seth being a crack shot- it had, sort of, worked to explain why Seth was following Jake, and then they'd distracted her with food. It had been working- it had been a _good_ plan. It worked for several hours, right up until Sam Uley smashed open the front door and barged in, shouting Leah's name with anxiousness in his voice that made her stomach churn. She was seated in the kitchen, running through the job's pages with Paul and watching Becca and Rachel re-work Rachel's resume. Paul was due on patrol in less than ten minutes- he'd already said he was heading to 'work', to explain it away to Becca. He had wanted to leave, hours before, but Rachel had pinned him with a glare and Leah had let it slide.

"Leah!" They all heard Sam yelling- Leah and Paul had felt him approaching, but they certainly hadn't been expecting this. He barreled into the kitchen, only seeing Leah and Paul- not noticing the others at the table. Or maybe he did and thought nothing of it- it was hard to know. "Jake's disappeared! Seth and Quil can't find a single trace of him out there- no scent, no sign that he's gone wolf. Nothing."

Her stomach dropped and she thought she might be sick. Becca, her expression equal parts angry and confused, stood up roughly and bit out a harsh demand.

"Someone tell me what the hell is going on around here. _Now_."

But Leah was gone- she'd phased the second Becca said the word _now_, and Paul and Sam followed suit, racing out of the rear door and down the porch steps into the woods; blurs of moving fur and muscle. Becca sat down suddenly, nearly missing the chair.

"So, the short version: our legends are real. Jake's the new Alpha. Apparently, he's gone missing." Despite that fact, Rachel grinned as the burden of secrecy lifted. "Tea?"

* * *

A/N: So, Becca knows. She was bound to find out eventually.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight. Wouldn't like that responsibility, anyway. :)

A/N: Many thanks to all who have read and reviewed and I hope you enjoy the next installment, it's been building for a while.

In other news, I think I need to rewrite the summary for this story. If anyone wants to come up with a good one for me, I'll name a Crow after you. :)

* * *

She hit the ground running, having leapt off the Black's back porch. Behind her, she could hear Rachel speaking to Becca but she didn't listen to the words. The moment she had phased, all of her attention had turned to Seth, and Quil, and she trawled through their memories quickly, trying to find out exactly what had happened. She shouted, of course, and cursed, but even Seth and Quil could tell that she didn't really blame them- not yet, anyway. She'd have to see for herself, of course- and that's where she was headed, running flat out at a pace that none of the boys could match. Paul was following her, but she heard him send Sam… somewhere. Her mind was focused on her destination, and on her sense of Jacob. She'd been able to tell where he was before now, so she should be able to find him easily, right?

She had to find him before he wandered into the middle of Forks and started, like, eating people. That would suck.

She was by the cliffs in what felt like seconds but was really minutes- Paul was miles behind her and she couldn't help the smug satisfaction she felt at that, despite her growing worry. Interestingly, the boys had all started worrying _less_ when she'd phased- she had some kind of stupid calming effect on them. They kept their attention on patrols now, when she told them to, just checking in momentarily for news. Her wolf-lungs were heaving as she stood where he had been last- less than half an hour before- and she tried to sniff out a trail. He'd walked from the treeline and sat down on the rocky ground, about two metres from the trees and ten metres from the cliffs edge- too far to the cliffs to have been covered in a single leap, so she could rule out cliff-diving. She even- discreetly- checked the spot he'd been sitting in to make sure he wasn't still there and just, ya know, invisible or some shit. She could feel a wave of amusement from Paul when she did that- but as a giant freaking shape shifter, she was in no position to judge what was or wasn't possible. The thing that really started to freak her out, which she did her best to hide from everyone else, was the fact that her Jake-dar seemed to be on the fritz. Sort of. It was telling her what she'd been feeling since that morning- that Jake was here, on this cliff top somewhere. In fact, now that she was standing here herself, she was struck by the feeling that he was kind of… everywhere on this cliff top. She had been able to pin him down to within five feet of where he was standing- and now? It was like he was all spread out and she couldn't pin that down. She turned back, aiming to retrace Jake's previous trail and see if she could find something, _anything_ that would give her a clue. She was, say, three feet back into the trees when she felt something watching her. At about the same time, Marianne cawed loudly above her, circling the spot Leah was standing in. This would have been useful if Leah spoke crow. She ducked back out of the trees, and gazed up at the other shifter.

_I'm gonna phase back and talk to her. Close your eyes, Quil. _She didn't have to say anything to Seth- he'd already averted his gaze. On the plus side, it was Marianne and not Daniel. Jake had already implied that he wasn't too happy with the stares the Crow man had been aiming at her.

She phased, just as Marianne came to the ground, twisting in the air to reform as her human self. It was a move that Leah envied- that, and the clothes. She really envied the clothes. Diana had said something about their wolf bodies being so much larger that the clothing they wore couldn't be accommodated in the change. Leah just thought it was highly unfair. Sure, she was taller and stronger and faster and she didn't have to listen to Diana but… wait. No. She wasn't jealous anymore. Suck on that, Marianne.

"What do you see?" She didn't even _try_ to hide her nakedness. What was the point? In the trees behind her, she could hear Seth whine and she hoped briefly that Quil wasn't looking. She'd kick his ass later if he had so much as glanced her way. "Did you see him?"

Marianne grinned- a tiny, smug smile that had Leah's fists clenching unconsciously.

"Oh, I saw him alright." The woman took a few steps forward, pointing one hand high. "He's been trying to get your pack to _look up_ for a reason, you know?" Leah ignored her as her eyes finally caught sight of what Marianne was pointing at- high in the branches, mostly hidden by leaves, was her Alpha. He was crouched on one of the highest branches, staring at her.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Seriously?" Quil and Seth whined, loudly. They were going to pay- scut patrols for the rest of the _year_.

"Call off the search party boys- he's here. Marianne-" The words were going to taste like vinegar, "Thank you." Surprisingly, the other woman just smiled calmly phased, leaping into the air and transforming again, back to crow.

Leah followed suit, phasing back to wolf and to the relieved minds of her pack.

_Quil- stay here. Watch him this time, yeah?_ The wave of embarrassment that hit her from the boy was punishment enough. The others, undeniably relieved, were all teasing him already.

She passed beneath the tree he was perched in, and didn't even pause to look up. Whatever trip he was on; whatever he was doing- she wasn't going to mess with that. She might have to mess with Quil's face though. Quil, in her mind, blanched a little at the thought and quickly pled for mercy.

She hadn't gone far when Seth and Quil called for her attention. Through Quil's eyes she could see Jacob, barefoot and spaced out, moving quickly and silently through the woods.

_He's following you, Leah._ It was her turn for embarrassment as _all_ the boys roared with laughter. Jesus, if the ground could swallow her up that would be nice. She actually stopped running; feet planted to the ground.

_Stop him._ She said, somewhat dumbly. Quil, entirely past his own embarrassment, took great pleasure in hers.

_How do you propose I do that, exactly?_ He was following Jake closely, intent on not losing sight of their Alpha a second time. Luckily, the boy (man?) seemed intent on following Leah's tracks pretty closely and was ignoring Quil completely.

_He can't come back to La Push like this._ Paul added, watching his brother in law carefully through Quil's eyes.

_No shit, Sherlock._ Leah was bitchy when she was annoyed. And mortified- don't forget mortified. _If he's going to follow me, I'll lead him away from town, further back into the woods- north, to avoid the Cullens property. God knows what the doof would do if he met a Vamp like this._

There was an amused silence- most of the boys seemed to believe that their Alpha, high, would disassemble any of the Cullen's pretty quickly and given the fierce stare she'd seen when she met his gaze, she wouldn't be surprised. That wouldn't be _useful_ though, so she would have to keep him away from the manor.

_Get back to your patrols. We'll call if we need someone else to shepherd Jake._ Paul snapped, bringing the focus of the Pack back to the job at hand. _Sam- go back to Rachel and tell her Jake is fine._ He grimaced mentally, and replayed the scene for the Pack, letting them all know that Becca was soon to be the newest member of the 'I-know-a-mythical-creature club'. _And keep an eye on Becca, afterwards. She might try to do something stupid._ Like what, he didn't know, but he had a bad feeling about it, all the same. If Becca was anything at all like her siblings… yeah, she'd do something stupid.

Leah slowed to a trot, giving Jake plenty of time to follow her. She was looping back and across her own trail when Quil noticed something.

_Leah? He's not following your trail. He's heading straight for you._ He sounded confused, and the girl sent out her second wave of embarrassment in five minutes. She hadn't been this easily shaken since she was twelve and had her first crush. Jake was using the mate-bond to follow her. He'd find her anywhere- wherever she went, however long or fast she ran for. It could have been creepy, but she couldn't find a place inside her where that information wasn't comforting. She stopped her running for a second, considering her options. He was headed straight for her- she could see that now, through Quil. He was almost a ghost through the trees, silent but moving quickly for his human form. She was several miles further north from where they had started- she could see the cliffs from her position and the scent of salt air was strong in her nose. It was as good a place as any to wait for him- further from home and people, but not so far that the Pack couldn't get to them if things got hinky.

_Keep on him, Quil. I'll wait for him here. _She squelched the rising speculation of what they would do _then_, and also ignored the stray thoughts of how to get him down off his high _now_ instead of whenever. The ritual was important; she knew that. Of course, the timing could have been better, but what choice had they got? It needed to be done and yeah, there were a bunch of psychotic half-vampires headed their way, but even Alice Cullen couldn't predict when they'd arrive so… now had seemed as good a time as any to get it done; get it over with. Those was, of course, back when they thought that the trip would last about ten hours and he'd just sit there and stare at his fingers the whole time. Leah had a sinking feeling that their ideal scenario had just been shot to hell.

It didn't take him long to reach her. She wouldn't have heard him coming- not a footstep; not a breath or a sigh; no sound to give him away- except she could feel his approach, and she could tell as he got closer. So she heard the lack of sound that surrounded him- the halt in the birdsong, the almost reverential whistle of the wing in the trees. Quil, in contrast, she could hear approaching from a mile away- and it's not that he was _loud_; it was that Jake was _silent._ And that was really weird, because Jake had never been the quiet one- he'd never had to be quiet, because he always had the firepower to overcome whatever he was sneaking up on.

She was sprawled on the forest floor, her head resting on her front paws, and only her ears twitched when he stepped into her line of sight. In her head, Embry was relaying the shitstorm that was happening in the Black's kitchen, where Becca appeared to have reacted… badly… to the truth about the La Push legends. So far, Sam had been smacked by Becca's fist; a frying pan and three flying plates. The entire Pack was watching, and couldn't help but be amused by the sight. Paul, running his patrol, was relieved (and kind of smug about it) that it wasn't him that was there, getting beat up by a girl.

_Not that there's anything wrong with getting beaten up by a girl, of course._ His tone was dry, and specifically aimed at her.

_And don't you forget it, buddy._ Some of the Pack had tensed, waiting for a fight to begin between the pair- but there was only vague fondness between them now, and none of the anger that had fuelled their fights for so long.

_Yeah, Leah's a little fluffy puppy now- all she needed was to get laid._ The boys laughed at her expense, but she didn't really even mind- it was kind of true, if for a different reason than Paul was implying but she wasn't going to fight with him on semantics. Not when he was on patrol and she was waiting to see what Jake was going to do now he'd found her. One thing was for sure- she was not, under any circumstances, phasing back to human. No siree. Much and all as she loved Jake, the creepy vacant non-stare he was sporting was a complete turn-off.

He stopped, several metres away from her, and dropped to a crouch. His vacant stare met hers, but his eyes were empty of anything she considered _Jake_- no amusement; no love; no hidden insight. But there was… something. Lurking beneath the surface, she could almost feel something moving; thinking; considering her. It was unsettling, to say the least. But she didn't move, didn't react- just met his stare evenly and ignored the boys in her head, who had moved on to debating which of the Black sisters would win in a fight. Paul, diplomatic, was staying out of it. Their voices were background noise; faint whispers and murmurs in the back of her head as she stared down her Alpha, all of her energy focused on not blinking; not looking away; not giving in to whatever strangeness Jake was aiming at her.

Later, she could never tell how long the twisted staring contest went on for- it could have been hours; days, and she wouldn't have known. The part of her that was wolf, so close to the surface of her mind in human form and so close to overwhelming her in wolf form, recognized the spirit animating the human form of her Alpha- it wasn't the Jake she knew, but the wolf aspect of him. It had been growing stronger, she knew, gaining on him slowly in the days since he had become Alpha- first of his own small pack and then of all the La Push shifters. They should have anticipated this- there was no excuse, although the preoccupation with the arrival of the half-vamps would have been a good one. It seemed kind of obvious in hindsight that if you sent Jake's spirit off on some quest or another that the _other_ animating spirit occupying his body would be left in charge. It was a giant cosmic _duh_ moment and she would have been embarrassed if she hadn't been so focused on not giving in to him. The part of Leah that was a wolf; her own wolf spirit; was balking- eager to submit and give in or whatever- recognising the Alpha and willing to just lay down and take it (whatever it was). The part of Leah that was human, and head over heels for Jake, was not- under _any_ circumstances, about to give in to the wolf part of him. No way, no how, no siree. He might think he was top dog, or whatever, but he (it?) was not her Alpha; it was not the boss of her. It wasn't his wolf that made him Alpha; it was _Jake_, and no wolf spirit was going to prove any different to her.

They never did discover which was more stubborn- human Leah or wolf Jake (It's a hard one to call, because Leah's pretty stubborn, but the wolf spirit did have nothing better to do) because, in the end, both of their attention was called away by a scrabbling and clawing sound which seemed to indicate that something was climbing up the cliff-face nearby. Leah's heart stopped at the sound and she shot to her feet- her standoff forgotten completely as she called out for Quil and Seth. The others tensed, watching carefully through her eyes as she turned her attention to the Cliffside, barely aware of Jake crouched beside her. The scrabbling sound ceased and for one, long, moment Leah allowed herself relief; convinced that the sound had been a seagull or something, nesting on the cliff-face. And then the unmistakable, too-sweet, scent of Vampire drifted to her nose and she couldn't contain a thrill of anticipation.

_We have incoming. Seth, Quil- to me. Paul- keep the patrols running. Embry, get here as quickly as you can. Everyone else, maintain your positions until we know what's going on. There's only one so far- the others could be spread out. Eyes and ears on the job, okay? _Quil and Seth were racing to her position; only moments away. Embry had turned and was spearing for her and the others were checking the shorelines. Vaguely, she was aware of someone contacting Marianne- again- and asking her to scout the skies, and Jared was talking to Edward; she could hear him through Colin's ears. All the same, her world narrowed to the beating of her heart; the scent of Vampire on the wind and the heat from the man beside her. It cleared the cliff-top in an elegant, effortless, leap and landed neatly. It was one of the half-breed females- slender; tall and dark-skinned, with cropped black hair and an expressionless face.

She saw them immediately, and her expressionless face changed to a sneer. Leah couldn't hold back her growl, but she also knew that challenging the creature on the edge of a cliff would be a really, really bad idea.

"So good of you to come to me- that makes this all the easier." It took Leah just a second- a mere beat- to realize that the vamp spawn had either not seen Jake, or had dismissed him as a threat. His scent, she noticed, was muted; diluted, almost. Huh. Interesting. Either way, it meant that when she leapt, it was at Leah. Of course, Leah wasn't going to let one half-vamp get the best of her. Not a chance.

She had the half-breed's neck clamped between her jaws, face down in the dirt, when the second barreled into her side, slashing and pulling at her. Her nose identified the second vamp as another female- no venom, which meant that the bites wouldn't kill her- so Leah twisted, pulling her body sideways and flinging the first vamp onto the second, over her own head in a move that she was pretty sure she'd never be able to replicate.

_I'll be there in thirty seconds, Leah. Don't die._ Quil's mental voice was calm, which was nice. Seth, his mind a blur of movement, didn't offer any words. Leah had lost track of Jake- he'd vanished, somehow. Again. Leaving her facing off against _two_ half-vampires. Huh- together, they made one whole vampire and one human. Or two Hampires? Vumans? Someone's laughter rang in her mind; questioning her sanity. It took her a moment to realize it was Paul, and that his laughter hid some quiet anxiety. Twenty-five seconds, she counted.

The two half-breeds straightened up, the first putting pressure to the gaping, bloody wound on her neck- it was already beginning to close, Leah could see. The second was smaller than the first- pale skinned and red eyed, with long wavy red hair. It was eerily similar to the specter of Victoria that danced in Leah's memory. They shared a glance and a smile and turned to grin at Leah in a way that was completely predatory and not at all reassuring.

The first came in low even as the second leapt at her from above, hanging in the air for a moment in a move that seemed very Matrix-ish. It would even have been cool if it hadn't been aimed at her, Leah thought. She dove through them- risky, but necessary, with the sea at her back and no-where else to turn- swiping her claws across the midsection of the second vamp, feeling the flesh tear under her skin with some satisfaction.

Twenty seconds. She had no illusions about winning this fight solo- it was not going to happen. Quil had better hurry. In her mind, he growled at her. The two vamps spun and twisted to her again, grinning widely. That thrill of anticipation she'd felt? It was quickly turning to dread. She didn't dare glance away to look for Jake.

They moved in again, faster than before, and Leah felt fingers rake across her back as she dove out of the way- the pain was stinging; raw. She ignored it, darting further into the woods before turning herself to face her pursuers, rushing the little one- the injured one- and clawing at her torso again with a wild swing. She didn't tear flesh, this time, but she did receive a blow to the head that was reminiscent of getting hit with a baseball bat. Or a truck. Dazed, she almost faltered her landing, but since when had Leah Clearwater allowed a little thing like head injury to stop her? Instead, she turned on a dime, biting down hard on the hand that had hit her and used all of her momentum to wrench sideways, the delightful crunch of bone and twist of tendon telling her that she had pulled the spawn's arm from its socket.

Fifteen seconds. The other vamp laughed, a shrill, tinny sound and the Leah was flying- tossed like a ragdoll until her body hit the nearest tree and she stopped, clattering to the ground.

A growl rose in her throat and the wolf in her rose, refusing to back down. The scent burned in her nose and Leah's vision narrowed further. She ignored the injured vamp- arm hanging limply from one side and bleeding heavily from the gash to her stomach, and turned to the other. It's neck wound had closed and the sneer was in place on it's face. Leah was fast. She had always been the fastest wolf. Quil was ten seconds away. She couldn't let him say he'd had to rescue her. She couldn't live with that, hanging over her head for the rest of however long she lived. She couldn't. She _wouldn't_. Jake might be Alpha, but dammit- so was she. Gritting her teeth (remarkably uncomfortable in wolf form) she crouched and leapt; growling and snapping, pushing the vampire back, and back, and deeper into the forest, ignoring the other but listening for any sign that it was moving from it's spot. Five seconds. She could hear Quil now, and so could the Vampire- it's eyes widened, showing some emotion for just a second.

They moved forward at the same time, obviously thinking the same thing- finish this one off before the reinforcements arrive. The half-vampire kicked out, catching Leah with a glancing blow to the ribs- painful, but not damaging and Leah responded by catching the Vampire's leg between her teeth. If she could have, she would have laughed as she threw her weight into a spin move, clamping down on the limb as she did, and wrenching her head around, pulling hard on the leg. This time, the Vampire screamed in pain as it's leg twisted unnaturally at the knee and it sank to the ground. Leah didn't waste her chance- she surged forward, grasping it's neck between her teeth and tearing. She could taste the blood on her tongue; a nasty, metallic taste that soured her stomach and meant she loosened her grip unconsciously for just a second. Not long enough for the vampire to escape, as Leah ripped out it's throat with her teeth just as Quil crashed through the trees and barrelled into the second vampire, who had been poised to grab Leah from behind.

_I'm here._ He gasped out, snagging the injured arm of the other vampire and ripping it clean off. Leah settled back, not even glancing at the one she'd killed as it lay in a pool of dark blood on the floor of the forest. She wasn't sure if half-vampires needed to be burned, but she was pretty sure she'd be barbecuing it anyway. Quil was carrying a lighter, she knew.

_Don't kill it. We need some answers, if we can get them. _As she said the words, Seth crashed in on top of them, panting hard.

_You okay, Lee?_ He asked, concern lacing his thoughts.

_Yeah, I'm okay._ She hurt. A lot. But she'd complain about that later, preferably while curled up in bed next to Jake, with a carton of Ben and Jerry's and some crappy TV. _Any signs of the others? Two more half-vamps and the Leech. _The various patrols all responded with no's- no-one had seen anything; smelled anything, that suggested other Leeches on the reservation.

_Jared- update the Cullens, please. Let them know what has happened and where._ She paused for a second. _If they want to, they can leave the house and do a sweep. _She felt Jared phase out, again, and then she phased herself. She was considerate enough to untie Seth's shirt from his leg and slip it on- she didn't want to traumatize her brother _and_ she knew Jake was still around somewhere, probably watching her.

Quil bit down hard on the half-Leech's shoulder, holding her in position on the ground, prostate before Leah.

"What have you come here for?" The Leech looked up at her, grinning madly through bloody teeth. When she spoke, it was with an accent- eastern European, Leah thought, though she was certainly no expert.

"What are we here for?" Her eyes shone, just a little. Leah couldn't tell if it was madness, or glee, or both. "We come here because my father demands it. We come here to die."

Leah was definitely confused. Father? No-one had mentioned their father. He was the big daddy vamp that the Cullen's said would have been killed by the Volturi. That's what they'd thought would happen, anyway.

"Why did he demand it? Tell me, and your death will be slow." The Vamp blinked once and grinned again.

"I do my job. I die now." Quil growled loudly in her ear and she couldn't hide the wince of pain and the brief shock of pain that crossed her face. Leah leaned down, close to the other woman's ear.

"Do you want to die? Is that it? Do you know how unnatural you are; how your very existence stings at my nose and makes my eyes water from the _wrongness_ of it all?" It was a stretch, and she was only guessing; taking a wild stab in the dark. She wasn't too surprised that the other denied it, but there was a hint of something; some tiny, unacknowledged emotion flickering in the depths of those red eyes… it would be a common recurrence in Leah's dreams for many weeks to come.

"I do my job." She repeated slowly. Leah nodded once and stepped away. Quil was kind enough- ending the half-life with a quick twist of his jaws on her neck.

"Drag her to the cliff's edge- Seth, get the other. We'll burn them now, and then get back to the res." Leah watched as the wolves dragged the half-breeds to the rocky cliff top, but she was the one to set them alight- using the lighter Seth carried in the pocket of his pants. They burned brightly; strongly. Quickly. Leah watched carefully for signs of movement, waiting until the corpses were charred black and the stench in the air was of burning bone and not flesh before she declared herself satisfied that they were no longer a problem. Embry had joined them, and the four watched the fire carefully.

"What did she mean, I wonder? What was her job? Just to come here and die?" Her voice carried in the wind and she caught sight of Jacob, watching her from inside the treeline. Wherever he had disappeared to, he was back now. Marianne, too, was watching her, perched in the upper branches of the tree above Jake's head. "Wasn't much of a job, if she was expecting to die all along." She spared a final glance at the smouldering remains. "She served as a nice distraction though." Even as the words left her mouth, she paled, dread settling in her stomach.

Her father. Her job. Distraction. Keeping them away from La Push- ten minutes, at least, back to the reservation town.

"Oh my god. Run- get back to the reservation. Get Jared- tell him warn the Cullens. Daddy Vamp must be with them too- he must be forcing them into this. Whatever they've come for, they're going for it, _now._"

The wolves at her feet were gone; running and rousing their brothers, even as she stripped her brother's clothes and threw them into the fire and phased.

A distraction. But from _what_?

* * *

"Rachel, I swear to all that is holy that if you- and this Neanderthal here- don't let me out of this house _right now_ then I am going to call the cops; the newspapers and every single conspiracy nut from here to Texas and tell them exactly what is going on in La Push!" Rachel smirked, just a little, and ignored her sister's protests. It wasn't ideal, how Becca had found out but Rachel wasn't going to complain. It had only taken five minutes for the ranting to begin and Becks had yet to slow down. Sam had taken the worst of it- he was a big target, and he was easy to hit with things. Becca had taken advantage and there was a lot of debris littering the kitchen floor as a result.

"Can I go? Do you need me?" Rachel glanced at him- he looked considerably uncomfortable in his Alpha's home, getting smacked every three seconds by a tiny, irate woman.

"Yeah, you can go. Thanks Sam." He'd come to tell her that Jake was fine, so she could be polite to him. He wasn't all bad, not anymore anyway. He darted out the door and disappeared into the woods. Becca moved as if to follow him and Rachel reached out and grabbed her sister's arm. "You're not going anywhere. You're going to sit down and, for once in your life, you're going to listen to me when I talk to you, okay?" There was real anger in Rachel's voice; genuine wrath. It was unusual enough that Becca nodded meekly and sat.

Whatever Rachel was going to say was interrupted by the phone ringing, the bell breaking the tension and the silence as the elder Black twin reached over and took the receiver from the cradle.

"Black residence, Rachel speaking." Glancing down, she remembered that she had to change the answering machine message, to take her father's voice from the tape.

"Rachel? This is Bella Cullen." Rachel hadn't spoken to Isabella Swan in years, but she recognised the girl's voice, even changed as it was by being turned to Vampire.

"What's wrong?" There had to be something _wrong_. The Cullen's would never be calling her if there wasn't something _wrong_.

"Jared asked me to call you and ask you to drive over here to collect him and bring Renesmee back to the reservation. Leah and Quil have killed two half-vampires on the reservation and we need to make sure that Nessie is kept safe. Alice believes that Nahuel would never consider that we might let her out of our sight, so she will be safer with you." Rachel nodded absently, quickly wondering what she could do with Becca while she was gone.

"I'll be there in ten minutes." She promised, hanging up and turning back to her sister. "I have to go collect Nessie." She took a deep breath. "I need you to promise me that you're going to stay here, okay? Inside the house; in the kitchen, even, until I get back." Becca gazed at her, half-aware, and she nodded slowly. "I swear, Becks, if you're not here when I get back then that's it, okay? We're done. I need to be able to trust you to stay here." Forty minutes should be enough, in Rachel's opinion, to get over the shock and learn to live with it. Her sister nodded, eyes focusing a little and some colour returned to her face.

"I'll be here, Rach. I'm not going anywhere until I understand this. Will you be gone long?" Rachel grinned a little and stepped forward to pull her twin into a one-armed hug.

"Less than a half hour, I promise. I'll be back, and we'll talk, and we'll get this sorted out, okay?" Grabbing her keys, Rachel dashed out the door to her car.

Seven minutes later, just before the turn off to the Cullen house, Rachel realised that she really should have asked to speak to Jared before agreeing to any of this. Amateur mistake.

* * *

A/N: Don't hate me. :)


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine. Tears for me. :(

A/N: Thanks to all who have read and reviewed- I hope you guys enjoy this one, too. Be warned: it's getting a bit... strange, I think. Eep. :)

* * *

She wasn't sure what the Vamp was doing in the middle of the road, but she pulled the car to a slow stop regardless. She knew that if it wanted to stop her, the car would just be collateral damage- and they couldn't afford the repairs. Squinting, Rachel cursed the heavy shadows- she couldn't tell which one of the Cullen's it was, from this distance. Heavy coat, dark hair; tall. It almost had to be Edward, though his back was to her so she couldn't be certain. The car rolled slowly on, stopping just a few feet from him, and she didn't waste any time opening the door and hopping out.

"Edward, is that you? What's going on?" She never saw his face; never had a chance to call out or scream. The hand over her mouth silenced her quickly, and one swift blow to the head meant unconsciousness was swift.

"Get her into the car and get her out of here." The vampire- decidedly _not_ Edward Cullen- ordered, and his daughters moved, taking the dead weight of Rachel Black with them to their car and speeding away. Joham allowed himself a small smile. Certainly, two of his daughters were dead by now. But they had been weak; hunting only when he forced them to hunt and not relishing the kill the way their siblings did. They did not even have any special gifts. They were no loss to him- not now, when he had everything else to gain at hand. His son was watching him again, an unreadable look on his face.

"Come along, Nahuel. We have things to do."

He had been waiting such a long time for this; to make his family strong and powerful. And now that time was fast approaching, anything standing in his way would be crushed. There was no other option. The boy followed him, silent, as they approached the Cullen manor. The grin on his face did not fade.

* * *

Bella glanced up as Jared knocked on the door in more warning than greeting and then let himself in. The Cullen clan were seated together in the living room, trying to will the time to pass faster. Emmett and Jasper were playing X-Box and Alice and Edward were playing a heated game of checkers- difficult to win (or lose) as she could see his every move and he could read her thoughts. There was little to distract them from Jared's news.

"We found Jake- he's fine. But two female half vamps have climbed the cliff-face about fifteen miles north of La Push. Leah and Quil took care of 'em, but Leah wants to know if you guys will help on the patrol." If they noticed that he wasn't meeting their eyes and that every breath he took was shallow, they didn't point it out. Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper stood- volunteering without words. Edward and Alice shared a glance and the tiny psychic immediately closed her eyes tried to focus her gift.

"I can't see anything. It's all caught up with the wolves." She sounded so utterly forlorn that even Jared felt a twitch of sympathy for her.

"I've gotta go. Can you guys cover the run from here to Forks and west as far as the sea?" Jasper nodded once. "You shouldn't have any problems from Jake over there- he's with Leah." Bella's eyes widened and she barely held back a gasp.

"Jake is out there fighting while he's stoned?" She had never experimented with drugs as a human, but she had heard and seen enough that she worried, nonetheless. Jared merely grinned.

"He's fine. High as a kite, but fine. Leah will look after him." Bella grimaced. She had never gotten on well with Leah, and time (and their parent's relationship) had done nothing to change that. The vampire still wasn't sure what she had ever done that meant the woman hated her and she didn't think that would change any time soon. Even Edward couldn't tell her- Leah had always been very good at shielding her thoughts around him. Jared didn't bother to say goodbye; he disappeared out the front door, following closely by the vamps. That stung, a little- he had always been very polite and nice to her, before. Bella turned her eyes back to her sister-in-law as Alice continued to try and force a vision. The television in the corner glared a bright white screen and out of habit she blinked as if it was blinding. It wasn't, of course. Not anymore. On her lap, Nessie squirmed and pushed herself to the ground, ignoring her mother's attempts to keep her close by as she wandered over to the windows, gazing out into the woodlands.

"Momma, why has Jacob been stoned?" The little girl, though so smart most of the time, was obviously confused. Her knowledge of 'being stoned' came directly from the Bible (which Edward believed was important reference material for any child). Esme stifled a giggle, and Bella did her best not to roll her eyes- she couldn't believe she was thinking it, but maybe Ness needed to start watching more TV? Something; anything that would expose her to the normal everyday stuff that she never got to see surrounded by the Cullens all day, every day.

"Oh sweetie. He's not _being_ stoned. 'Stoned' is a slang term, meaning exhibiting altered consciousness through the use of psychotropic drugs." Bella was glad Carlisle had explained that one. Nessie's face was the picture of concentration as she delved into a conversation with the doctor about the dangers and effects of drugs on the human body. The girl was intrigued by the idea and Bella had a sudden insight that her daughter, when she hit her teenage years, was going to be an absolute nightmare- and, apparently, a nightmare that experimented with drugs, if her eagerness at the age of two was any indicator.

She was restless, suddenly, itching to go outside; go for a run or go hunting or something. It was the knowledge that she was trapped inside that was driving her mad. Edward glanced up at her and smiled- a very small, almost pleading smile. They had reconciled, the previous evening. The knowledge that a hundred year old half-vampire wanted to make their daughter his bride was, it seemed, enough to inspire forgiveness and apologies. She still wasn't sure she understood Edward's motivations, but she loved him enough that she believed him when he told her he would never do it again. She believed him when he said he had thought the deception was for the best. Watching her daughter playing with Carlisle, she couldn't help but agree with the sentiment- she would do anything to keep Nessie safe. Hadn't she already proven that, more than once? Having Jacob tied to her daughter had upset her- definitely. But she had never doubted that he would keep her child safe, and she missed that feeling. They all had, wolf and Vampire alike, lined out against the Volturi to protect the child. It seemed they would be required to face another enemy together- it was too late now, with the death of two of the half-breeds, to broker a peace.

Nessie had moved away from Carlisle and held her face pressed against the glass of the window, watching her warm breath fog. She drew pictures in the condensation. Bella was busy watching her, revelling in her, when Rosalie returned.

"Leah's getting the imprints gathered together in La Push- she's offered Nessie a spot there, with Emmett and I guarding them." The blonde made a face. "As if I want to be surrounded by dog-stink, but Emmett said yes so…" She rolled her eyes.

"Why would she be any safer there than here? What can the Pack do that we can't?" Alice asked, her voice sounding almost hoarse. Rosalie shrugged.

"Probably because there are twelve of them and their patrols are pulling back to the reservation. They probably want to use her as bait, actually, to draw the rest of them toward the reservation where they have the upper hand because they know the terrain. But they didn't put it that way."

Edward's face had stilled, expressionless.

"I don't like it- I'd much rather keep her here with us. We can protect her just fine from here." Rosalie shrugged again.

"Suit yourself. Ness? You want to come tell the smelly dogs that you're going to be staying here after all?" There was none of the usual teasing in her voice, but she wasn't harsh either. Nessie made a face, annoyed as always by the 'smelly dogs' comment, but she ran across the room and leapt into her aunt's arms nonetheless.

It took about five minutes after the pair had left for Bella to start worrying. It took her another three to realize that they weren't coming back.

* * *

Joham couldn't believe his luck- the toddler squirmed in her seat and fought the grip that his daughter had on her tiny body, but she was here, in his possession, regardless. His eldest child, Louisa, kept the girl in a firm grasp and matched her father's grin.

"Nicely done Louisa. You really are getting very good." She scoffed.

"_Getting_? I _am_ good, old man." She was a woman after his own heart- his eldest and most beloved child, born of a human street-walker almost two hundred years previously, she had ripped her way out of the womb and had not looked back since. The last time she had a kind word for anyone was when she had _not_ killed Nahuel when he was born. She had not wanted a brother and it had taken all of Joham's charm to convince her not to rip him apart.

She was the reason that the Volturi had not managed to kill him- they had sent their best hunters, and Louisa had dispatched them all, riddling their minds and convincing them all that he had been killed easily. It was truly a wonderful gift, her ability to project herself as something other than what she was- her Rosalie Cullen impression had been impeccable, especially as she faced a mind-reader, a psychic and a natural block. Joham, not for the first time, was relieved that she was by his side. He turned the key, sputtering the engine to a start.

"Let's get out of here before someone notices." Despite Louisa's gifts, he really did want to be far, far away when the Cullen coven and their allies realised what had happened. Nahuel, in the passenger seat next to him, bit back a smile.

"All we need now is the wolf." They had to break the bond between Renesmee and the wolf before they could be truly free.

"We have his sister. Let us see how far his loyalty will stretch when his Pack scream for her return and the Cullens clamour for the child."

Nahuel had seen the dedication the wolf man had shown to the small child and Alice had told him all about the Quileute imprints, convincing him that Nessie was different from his sisters- she would be able to bear children, as she was bonded to bear them with the Quileute Alpha. Well, he would be happy to substitute for the wolf man when she was grown, and Joham had wondered several times if she could bear the child of a full Vampire to term also. It would be an interesting experiment, perhaps.

The car sped away, Joham happy to ignore the petty human road rules as he strove to put many miles between them and the Cullen Coven. Not even Nessie, her eyes tear filled and unable to even speak from shock, saw the large wolf running alongside the car, faster than any wolf should be able to manage. It kept to the trees, keeping pace with the car for miles. It kept pace with the car until it turned onto the highway. It ran the edge of the highway, and followed the car all the way into downtown Seattle. No-one noticed; it was never seen, ghosting through the streets, next to invisible. Some people caught a glimpse from the corner of their eyes, or felt the shiver down their back that signaled danger approaching but when it's yellow eyes gleamed in the fading light and the wolf growled once and disappeared, no-one saw.

Joham took the child himself, bringing her into the abandoned warehouse in the docklands as Louisa and Nahuel moved and destroyed the two cars. Huilen was waiting for them, her eyes widening in a quiet smile as she spied the girl in his arms.

"Nicely done, Joham." She commented. Her voice was quiet, as always, but held the same hint of dissatisfaction that had been in her voice since Joham and his girls had returned to claim Nahuel. His son's aunt was dark-skinned, dark-haired and dark-eyed and reminded him very much of the boy's mother. Huilen, unfortunately, did not fall for his charms the same way her sister had which was unfortunate- she was as vicious and cruel as any vampire he'd ever met, but she was… different, too. The Venom that had changed her had come from her nephew; her own blood, and a half-human to boot. It made her… unpredictable, in ways that Joham had yet to catalogue completely. She was also; somehow, the only one immune to Louisa's gift, and that worried him, somewhat. It made her dangerously different, and Joham knew that the time was approaching that they would have to change another human using Nahuel's venom. It was likely to prove important- he needed to know what made Huilen different; what was different about Nahuel's venom. Of course, he would not be saddened if Huilen fell to the Cullens. That would be, perhaps, even more useful to him. Nahuel had proven just a little _too_ loyal to his aunt. It was unnatural.

He placed the little girl on the ground, inside the reinforced playpen that Gretchen, his second daughter, and Elin, his remaining and youngest daughter, had located. She glared up at him with hatred in her eyes. It was a sight he was used to seeing in human eyes- especially female ones. Not every potential mother for his children had loved him as well as Pire, Nahuel's mother, over the years. Of course, many of them had not survived the initial coupling. Those who did usually found themselves pregnant and if they survived into the pregnancy, they died at the birthing anyway. A small smile crossed his face, remembering the women who had been crucified by their own people over the years for carrying his children- proof, if there was no other, that the cattle still retained some sense of self-preservation.

At that thought, his eyes travelled to the chair next to the playpen, and to the beautiful (if unconscious) woman strapped to it. Dark hair, dark eyes and bronzed skin- just his type, really. Her heartbeat fluttered in his ears and Joham couldn't help but run the tip of his index finger across her face, feeling the blood beneath her skin pulse in an angry response to him. This girl held the wolf blood, he knew. He suspected she would not remain unconscious for long. He was right, of course. Mere seconds after he touched her (he must discover if Huilen had touched the girl at all; if only the touch of a full-vampire would wake her), her eyes fluttered open. Her confusion lasted only seconds, which was delightful, before she struggled with her bonds and spat in his face.

Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this one.

* * *

"Rachel? You here somewhere?" It wasn't Rachel that answered- Becca, instead, called out to Leah from the living room.

"In here, Leah. Rachel's out." Leah frowned, just a little, as she entered the living room, where Becca was curled up on the sofa.

"Huh. Where'd she go?" Becca didn't seem to hear her, staring blankly at the wall instead. "Becca? Where did she go?" Leah did her best to keep her voice even and calm. She couldn't blame Becks for not keeping up with the developments around here- everything was moving so fast that she was half-surprised that Becca hadn't bolted for home already. She counted to ten internally, waiting patiently.

"She, uh, got a phone call. Said something about having to go collect Nessie." She glanced at her watch. "She should be back in a few minutes- she said a half hour." For a fraction of a second, Leah wondered if anyone had told Becca yet that the rumours about the Cullen family were all true- and then she remembered that Becca had been gone before the Cullen's had returned, and she would never have had a reason to put the clues together. Numbly, her hand reached out to grasp the phone on the sideboard in the living room and she dialled the number she had memorized but rarely called. The phone was answered almost before it had a chance to ring.

"Cullen residence, Alice speaking." Alice would have known that it was one of the wolves calling- it crossed Leah's mind briefly that it was fruitlessly polite of her to introduce herself over the phone, because so many of the Pack either didn't know or didn't care which Leech was which.

"Alice, it's Leah. Is Rachel there?"

"No. Why would she be?" Sheer confusion- Leah could hear similar responses from the other Leeches in the background. For a second; just a second, she felt her heart stop beating and her entire body turned cold for the first time in three years.

"Because someone called here, asking her to come collect Nessie from the manor, and she's not here." Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

"But Rosalie took Nessie from here and brought her to you, like you wanted? Edward and Bella said no, but she took her anyway." Oh god.

"When was that?" The rest of the Leeches responded in the background with quiet murmurs, and Alice's voice was laced with concern.

"About ten minutes ago, I think"

"Rosalie has been patrolling the western border with Emmett and Colin since she left your house. She never went back to the manor." Unsurprisingly, the reaction in the Manor was uproar. Leah made her decision; her plan, quickly.

"Whoever has Nessie can't have gotten far- get out on their trail, now, all of you. I'll alert the pack, get everyone searching." She took a deep breath. "I think we should assume that whoever took Nessie also has Rachel."

In the back yard, Paul overheard her words and the sinking feeling in his stomach that had led him back to the house quickly solidified into a ball of dread.

Alice quickly agreed and the Vampires left, but not before Leah requested a quick word with Carlisle.

"Hey doc, I need to know how to get someone down off a peyote trip really, really quickly- I could really use Jake right about now." Jake, whose body was lingering at the edge of the woods, watching her, even as his mind was completely AWOL.

"I'm sorry Leah- there's nothing really we can do. It's in his bloodstream now- we have to wait for him to burn it off naturally." She cursed, thanked him and hung up.

"Becca?" The other woman's face had whitened, even from the little she had overheard. "The bad guys have Rachel and Bella Swan's daughter Nessie." Leah only glanced at her, before rooting through the pile of papers beside the phone, searching for a particular number. "I need you to call this woman- her name is Diana- and tell her what I just said. Tell her I need her people here, asap, and that we have a lot of ground to cover. Tell her to get one of them to find one of the Pack, okay?" Becca nodded dumbly, accepting the phone that was offered. Outside, Leah could hear Paul howl and knew that the Pack knew what was happening, sort of. "Keep calling until you get an answer, and then come of the back porch and call out- whoever is close by will come find you. It'll be okay- we'll find Rachel. Don't worry." Her words didn't help, and Becca was shaking as she dialed, ignoring Leah as the girl stripped off the tee-shirt she was wearing and strapped it to her leg before phasing and disappearing out the back door.

_Okay guys, listen up. Whatever these guys have been planning, they've kicked it up a gear- we have been assuming that it was Nahuel calling the shots all along, but it was his dad, Joham. He's a full-vampire, and crazy as all hell from what Carlisle has told us. _The boys were all listening intently- no-one was even interrupting. _Rachel would never have left the house unless she was _convinced_ that one of the Cullens had called her- so we have to assume that one of these half-vamps can impersonate people or some shit. A head-fuck, it must be, and not real shape shifting like us.. All these Vamp tricks are mind tricks, not physical stuff. They have Rachel, and they have Nessie Cullen._ All around Forks and La Push, a chorus of keening wolf-wails resounded. She allowed the grief to swell for a few minutes; for Paul's worry and frantic heartbeat to spill out and wash over his brothers. _We need to focus guys- We need to find them, ASAP. If anyone knows where Marianne or Daniel is, find them- tell them what's happening. Ask what they've seen; what they know. _

Several miles away, Colin stumbled, catching a flash of something out of the corner of his eye- a flash of metal in the middle of the road not far from the Cullen house.

_I found the Rabbit._ It had been pushed off the road, the driver's door still open. He scented it carefully, ingraining the scent of two half- vampires carefully in his, and the Pack's, memory. They half-smelled like the other two; their family, Colin assumed. He circled back, traveling on the road- it had been quiet that day, not much traffic. It was clear from there that the rabbit had been pushed off the road and another car had taken Rachel away. There was no scent of blood; no tell-tale scent of death. That was reassuring. They _knew_, of course, that she wasn't dead. Paul would know in a second if she died. It was a small, bitter, comfort. It didn't take the boy long to find the third and fourth scents- one more half-vampire that the Pack memory identified as Nahuel and another, older, full vampire.

_Joham_. Paul growled. His mind was near-feral with worry, and Leah recognized his concern. Joham, according to Nahuel the previous year, had a bad reputation for what he had done to women in the past. She forced herself not to dwell on the thought- it was not helpful in the least. Colin followed the trail to the Cullen's house, where he found the fifth scent- another half-blood. This one had approached the Cullen house on foot from the forest and had actually gone inside. That one, then, was the one who had impersonated Rosalie. Nahuel and Joham had taken a car from the garage- there was no way that the Cullen's would not have heard them, or smelled them, moving around the property. Leah took a moment to consider that- whatever talent the half-leech had, then, was significant, if she convinced five Vampires that they saw and smelled Rosalie and, at the same time didn't see or hear the grand theft auto in the garage.

It was a small, small comfort that the two vehicles appeared to have travelled away from the reservation- at least that much meant that the other imprints were safe. It was enough to calm Jared, Quil and Sam, a little.

_If they've left the area, we can't track them this way._ Embry was the one to point it out. Everyone knew it was true- the half-vamps had exploited their weaknesses and taken to cars, where they couldn't follow the scent trail.

_What do we do?_ They were silent, all of them, for just a minute before Tim piped up, his mental voice a little shy and disbelieving.

_They took one of the Cullen's cars, right? Do they have GPS tracking devices in their cars?_ All of the Cullen cars, Leah knew, were equipped with the best technology. They may very well have one.

_Whoever is nearest a Cullen- phase and ask._

_Rosalie is here- she'll know._ Seth voiced. He didn't have to add that Rosalie, having been informed that someone had impersonated her, was spitting nails.

_While Seth is doing that, who has Daniel or Marianne, and has Becks gotten anything for us yet from Diana?_ There was no word yet from Becca, but Sam was with Daniel.

_What do you want to know?_ The former Alpha's tone was tense, like the rest of them. He was in La Push, still, not far from the Black house, waiting for Becca. Daniel had landed near him, wanting to know what had the wolves howling.

_Find out how far away their people are, and if they're anywhere close by, get them the description of the car that the Vamps took and have them scout for it. There's a ten minute head start, but they have to have driven out through Forks and Eastward- there's almost nowhere else they could go. They can't be in Olympia yet; they might not have even left the peninsula yet. _

Seth phased back in, announcing that Rosalie was going back to the Cullen mansion to check which car had been taken, and that Colin would meet her there to liaise with the Pack- if there was a GPS tracker on the car, Rosalie would be the one to know, and they would know within minutes. Sam phased out to speak to Daniel, promising to phase back in two minutes to get the description of the car and the licence plate number.

Everything moved pretty quickly- Leah was running, racing to the Cullen home to check in with Rosalie. She was vaguely aware that Jake had not followed her. Sam had mentioned that Jake was watching the Black house, unmoving, so she wasn't worried. Jake, whatever was wrong with him, was pretty capable of looking after himself anyway- Rachel and Nessie, not so much. Sam was watching him, anyway, and Daniel too, it seemed. The rest of the boys, on her instruction, pulled back closer to the reservation, running tighter patrols. She also sent Quil and Brady to patrol the town and keep an eye on the imprints- only Kim wasn't in La Push at the time, and Jared had phased out to tell her to go somewhere public and stay surrounded by people until they could collect her.

She got to the Cullen house seconds ahead of Rosalie and met the blonde in the garage. It took Rosalie half a second to ID the missing car- one of hers, a Jeep Cherokee that she took off-roading.

"It has a tracker- but I'll need to call the company and get them to activate it for me. I should be able to track it on my Blackberry from there." She disappeared into the house and Leah could hear her on the phone.

_Sam? Did you hear that? Black Cherokee, last year's model._

_I'll pass it on now. Daniel says his people are spread out between here and Seattle- there's twenty five of them. _And Sam disappeared again, relaying the registration plate and description to Daniel. Leah waited for Rosalie, revisiting the scents Colin had found while she did, hoping to find something new. She didn't.

It took Rosalie only a few minutes to get the tracker activated, and another few minutes before her phone uploaded the data, or whatever.

"Okay. The car is closing in on Olympia- that's fifteen minutes' drive from here if you break all the speed limits. We won't catch it running- we'll need to take the cars." Leah chose to trust Rosalie's assessment- and the Vampire showed her the tiny map on the screen of her phone, tracking the movement of the car in real-time. She relayed the information to Sam- near the outskirts of Olympia on the Fork's side, moving fast- and he relayed it again to Daniel. They had promised not to reveal the presence of the Crows, so she said nothing to Rosalie, even as she phased, dressed and hopped into the passenger seat of Rosalie's Porsche. She was vaguely aware of Edward and Jared crossing the boundary to the manor as they drove off, and she could hear the tyre squeal as they peeled out of the drive, following Rosalie. Rose only stopped once, to collect Alice and Jasper. Leah spent the first three minutes of their journey trying to plot something out; trying to figure a way to ensure the secrecy of the Crows and still maintain the trace. She couldn't figure it out, and eventually gave up trying.

The Pack split up- half returning to La Push; tightening the patrol circuit again, narrowing it to the town and the outlying forestry and half following Rosalie; searching for Rachel. Paul stayed behind, with Brady, Tim, Mike, Quil and Colin. Everyone else piled into the Jared and Edward's cars- any other day, she would have laughed to see that. Emmett, Carlisle, Esme and Bella stayed behind too- Emmett, it seemed, was physically restraining Bella from running to Olympia and stopping the car herself. That would have been a _bad_ idea. Despite the pace they were moving at; despite the progress they'd made so quickly, there was a lump in Leah's stomach that had settled into a tight knot of dread and anxiety and for the first time in years she thought she might throw up.

They chased, running to catch up. Rosalie concentrated on the road and Alice watched the GPS. They didn't make up any time- getting caught in traffic in Olympia held their convoy up a little, and when they reached the highway even the open road couldn't gain them back anytime. They were fifteen or twenty minutes behind, all the time. Leah watched the skies, catching glimpses of black here and there and wondering if the Crows were having any better luck than the Vampires.

The were fifteen minutes, and about twelve miles, away from Seattle when the GPS beeped once and the tracker disappeared.

"Shit. Shit- they must have destroyed the car. It went down to the docklands, but it drove around in there so much that I can't tell if it stopped, and out again." Alice sounded panicked. Leah reached out and grabbed the phone from her, dialing the Black house. Paul answered, quickly.

"Tell the guys we're heading to the docklands and to keep an eye out. Call Jared, let him know what we're doing. The GPS has been destroyed or switched off or whatever, so we're going on guesswork now, okay?" Paul didn't bother answering- he just grunted.

"Tell Dan… tell Dan to call me if anything changes." She recited the phone number to him, ensuring that he wrote it down, and then offered vague reassurances before hanging up. She ignored Jasper when he asked who Daniel was; choosing instead to focus on her anxiety to throw him off. Lives at stake or not, they had made a promise- and she wasn't sure she _could_ tell them, even if she'd wanted to, as her Alpha had sworn their secrecy. She thought she probably couldn't and the fact that she didn't even try was an indicator of that. It made sense in her head, anyway. The Vamps were nervous; worried. Leah, unknown to them, actually felt a bit better about the situation, knowing that the Crows were in the skies above her, watching out for the Pack. They might not have been as fast or as strong as the wolves, and they were certainly really annoying (well, the ones she'd met, anyway) but it was a comfort to know that they were there, regardless. Backup was backup, even if it was an annoying crow.

Rosalie drove through the docklands slowly and Leah watched the skies as subtly as she could. All the windows were open and they all searched for scents, but wind was coming in over the water, washing away anything useful. They were not stopped by anyone at the gateways, which Leah took as a bad sign. Rachel and Nessie might still be safe, but clearly other people had lost their lives that day. She couldn't think of another reason for all the security huts to be empty that evening.

"That way." The commanded, point down a row of empty warehouses. Her tone didn't allow for argument, but she earned some curious glances nonetheless.

The two cars following turned off behind them as Leah barked out directions- she could only hope that the black spot circling above her was the right kind of Crow.

* * *

A/N: See? Strange. :( Ah well. Onwards. :)


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't even own my copies of the books, so I certainly don't own the whole series.

A/N: This one was a while coming... Apologies, and enjoy. :)

* * *

Rachel clawed her way back to consciousness, fighting the blackness and the throbbing headache that reminded her of the blow she'd taken. Her skin crawled as one, icy, finger trailed across her cheek and she recoiled, feeling rope bite into her wrists where her hands were tied behind her back. Her eyes opened wide, headache forgotten and she acted on instinct- spitting in the face of the Vampire in front of her. His returning smile was… disturbing, to say the least. Scared though she was, Rachel refused to let it show on her face. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction- he could hear her heart racing and, not doubt, smell the scent of fear in the air, but she fought for control of her body and met his stare with one of her own. She knew it was stupid, reckless and simply a bad idea- but her blood was boiling and her heart raced and she couldn't help herself.

"Brave girl." He spoke with an accent she couldn't place, but she knew enough of the Vamps to know who he was. Joham, the Vampire that was supposed to be dead. She decided in that moment to never, ever trust the word of a Vampire (vegetarian or not) ever again. If she ever had the chance, that was. She'd give her left arm for the chance. Joham crouched in front of her, his eyes on her face. His left hand rested next to her thigh and she shivered at the proximity. Her entire body rebelled against it, and from the look in his eyes, she was pretty certain he was enjoying it. Behind him, she saw another Vampire (or a half-vampire, maybe?) watching her. That one was… not enjoying it. That was something, at least.

"Father?" A third figure, a stunningly pretty girl with shining dark hair and eyes, emerged from the shadows. Joham snapped his gaze in her direction and Rachel took the chance to glance around her. She had no hope of escape- but that didn't stop her checking for escape routes. Her heart froze in her chest when she spotted the small child in the playpen next to her. Nessie Cullen, tears in her eyes and looking for all the world the two year old she was- terrified and alone and in danger. Rachel forced herself to smile at the child, meeting her gaze and trying to pretend confidence she didn't feel, for the child's sake. Nessie smiled feebly back and Rachel, somehow, felt sadder at that. The child was trying to do the same for her; trying to give her some hope too. Jesus, it was a low point when a two-year old half-vampire was the closest thing she had to an ally in any situation, never mind a life-threatening kidnap attempt. Attempt? Was it an attempt if it succeeded? Because she definitely felt kidnapped.

"What is it, Louisa?" Joham sounded… vaguely annoyed, at being disturbed.

"The cars have been destroyed. We will be ready to leave again in fifteen minutes. The ship leaves the dockyard in an hour." Ship? What ship? One thing was certain: Rachel _did not_ want to get on a ship.

"Excellent. Gather your things, Louisa. We will need to be ready to move." Joham turned back to his guests.

"Have you ever seen Europe, Miss Black?" He grinned, just a little, and stood up in one fluid movement. She didn't answer, which didn't seem to surprise him. "Not to worry- you won't see much of it this time, either." That stupid little smile, that she already hated, crossed his face again and Rachel forced back the questions that bubbled up. She couldn't; wouldn't; give him the satisfaction of asking what he was up to. She certainly wasn't expecting him to monologue his evil plan for her benefit. He disappeared, off somewhere beyond the light. It wasn't gloomy, as such, just… dimly lit. Badly lit, and cold, and clearly a warehouse of some kind. That, and the scent of salt in the air, added together to mean Seattle and the docklands. Rachel refused to think about it. The boys would come for her, right? They'd find her before they left. Becca would tell someone, when she didn't arrive home? Someone would notice? Her heart was in her throat, then, when she glanced back at Nessie. If they had Nessie… who knew what had already happened? If they'd gotten past the Cullen's to get at Nessie then… Oh God. Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away. She wouldn't let Nessie see her cry. She couldn't ask her and let the child hear the tears in her voice; she had to get some kind of control of herself before she would do that.

It took her a moment to realize that the half-vamp was standing in front of her, wearing an inscrutable expression. She met this one's gaze too, staring into red eyes for the second time and hearing her heart beat in her ears like a drum.

"You will make a fine mother to my new sister, I think."

And suddenly; harshly; the reality of what was planned for her crashed on her head and Rachel couldn't hold back her sobs.

Louisa, grinning smugly, walked away.

* * *

The cars were blocked in, trapped by dead-ends and narrow alleyways. Leah, her eyes scanning the skies and the rooflines, was the first to abandon them- pushing open her door and breaking into a run, whispering for the others to simply follow her. And they did; the vampires silent and swift and the wolves breathing heavily and fighting to prevent phasing- they needed hands to climb fences and ladders- they had no time for phasing. It turns out that following crows was a great idea in theory, until you realize that the phrase _as the crow flies_ actually meant something. She'd lost them three times already, and still wasn't one hundred percent sure that she was following the right bird. But she had no choice; she had to believe that Daniel and Diana had sent the birds that were circling overhead. She had to. She couldn't face telling Jake that she'd let his sister be killed by Vampires; she couldn't face Paul if he lost his imprint. She couldn't face Edward and Bella if their little girl got hurt. She shook her head, forcing the negative thoughts away and forcing her eyes back onto the search. She'd lost sight again and cursed- but Jared had been watching and he sprinted onwards, pointing, and she followed, easily catching sight and scent of feathers again, diving and darting above their heads.

The docklands were a maze, acres of land and miles of roads and despite their speed, the minutes were ticking past. She lost track of how long they'd been running; ten half-crazed, half-dressed supernatural predators, frantic with worry. The scent of fear was heavy in the air and she could hardly breathe for it. It was made worse by Edward's constant questions: how did they know that they were going the right way; what was she following; was she sure; was she right; what was taking so long. She knew it hurt him- his daughter was missing and his talent, that he'd relied on for so long, was useless. But right then she wanted nothing more than to see Jared (or Emmett, or Jasper, or anyone, really) rip the Vamp's head off just to shut him up. It'd probably be counterproductive though. Barefoot, she scaled a chain-link fence, pausing for just a moment at the top to take a deep breath, scenting the air delicately. Around her, the Vamps leapt the fence and the wolf-boys scrambled over.

There, on the top of the fence, she caught the scent, sweet and strong and stinking of dead flesh and bone.

Her growl was unbidden, and when she leapt into the air she phased without thinking about it. In seconds, she was gone- racing ahead of even the Vampires as blood lust pounded in her chest. She felt the boys phase behind her; heard their clothing rip and tear, heard their paws pounding on the ground as they followed her, caught the scent through her nose and caught up in her single-minded desire to _destroy_. She was too far gone to notice, but the Pack moved together as one; completely in sync with one another. The Cullens watched, seeing the Pack hunting together for the first time, amazed by the change in their human allies. The boys had been angry and frightened, Jasper knew. Angry, worried and frightened, ruled by the tension that Paul held inside and by the absence of their Alpha. And then, suddenly, that fear was gone and it was replaced with the desire to rip, and tear and devour the enemy; complete and total focus on the task at hand and not a single stray emotion distracting them.

It distracted Jasper and Edward, though, for long enough that the Pack got ahead of them; spurred on to greater speeds by Leah's unmatchable pace. The wolves disappeared into the deep shadows between two warehouses, and even the Vamps had trouble distinguishing wolf from shadow. They were forced to stay quiet; to wait and watch as the wolves circled the prey that they had found: Nahuel. He had yet to notice this audience, as he held a dockhand pinned to the wall, sniggering and laughing as the man struggled against the impossible grip.

It had been a several years since Jasper had last seen Nahuel, but the man had not changed. He quashed the guilt that sprang up as he wondered how he could ever have agreed to bring this man into his home; introduce him to his Coven and his niece.

From his position, Jasper could see the fear in the man's eyes. For the first time, maybe ever, the scent of a frightened human did nothing but disgust him and he took a second to wonder at that; to marvel at the change. His momentary joy was dashed when Jared leapt, knocking Nahuel to the ground with no warning and clamping his jaw around the half-vamp's neck with a grip that none of the Cullen's could have broken. Leah crouched over Nahuel, her teeth bared and snapping as the rest of the Pack circled.

"Leah, Jared. Don't kill him, please. We have to find my daughter first." Edward interjected, pleading. In response, Leah shook Nahuel by the neck and his body flailed as he tried to grab hold of her, somehow. Edward could read the location in the half-vampire's mind- he only needed a minute.

Emmett took the startled man by the arm and led him out of the alleyway, pointing him toward the exit and suggesting that the man go home, get drunk, and forget any of what he just saw. Alice nodded gently- the human would be fine, and he would do just that. They could all hear his footsteps as he ran away, as quickly as he could. Jasper didn't feel the usual pull to follow; to chase and hunt. It was a blessed relief.

Edward stood, seemingly concentrating hard. Jasper could feel the anger rolling from his brother- the rage and hatred that emerged as the normally controlled vampire learned what Nahuel and his family had planned for his daughter.

"They planned to raise her, and use her as a broodmare for Nahuel, first, and Joham afterward, if she lived." He took a deep, unnecessary, breath. "And Joham wants Rachel for himself, now. He want to do to her what I did to Bella." This was to say, get her pregnant with a child that would kill her and then turn her. Jasper had never met Rachel, not really- but the memory of what Bella had gone through was fresh in his mind and he couldn't hold back a shudder. Desire to kill the other Vampire swelled in him and for once, he couldn't tell whose it was- his or Edwards? The Pack? He couldn't distinguish. Emmett moved faster than the rest of the Cullens, reaching out to the half-Vampire and snapping his neck sharply. There was no fight; no chance for him to defend himself. He'd had his moment to get away in the split second before Jared pounced and he'd missed it. Jasper felt no remorse.

Broken necks wouldn't kill them, of course, but they didn't have time to dismember the bodies and burn the remains. They had to keep going. The moment Nahuel's neck snapped, Leah was running again; leading her wolves onwards at a pace Jasper struggled to match. Emmett stayed behind, promising to catch up when Nahuel's body was destroyed.

They'd been searching the docklands for twenty minutes. They had been twenty minutes behind the convoy. Nessie, they knew, would be fine. She was a child, and she would surely be traumatized. But she couldn't be impregnated at the age of two. The wolves concern was Rachel, always Rachel. Edward, perhaps, should have been more careful with his words when he had spoken. The righteous anger rolled in waves from the Pack and Jasper struggled to keep his feet with the strength of it all. Alice saw him stagger and reached out, taking his hand in hers and holding him up; being his pillar of love and affection as always. The pain of it was too much, and Jasper fell back, falling to his knees and gasping for air he didn't need. Whatever they had seen, ahead of him, had spiraled the rage out of control and he struggled to stand, to put some distance between him and the swirling pit of rage that the Pack had become. He failed, falling to the ground and into unconsciousness for the first time since he'd been turned himself. Alice, if she could have cried, would have been sobbing like a child, holding his hand and willing him to wake.

Leah came back to herself when she scented Rachel's blood in the air. The return was abrupt- one moment, she _was_ the Pack and they were her, and then she was herself again, gazing into an empty warehouse where the only evidence of her friend was the scent of blood and tears. She phased, needing to speak to Edward, and ignored her nudity. The wolves searched every inch of the warehouse in the moments it took the Cullen's to catch them. She had been so focused, so caught up in the pack and in the hunt that she wasn't sure she had even noticed that the Vampires had fallen behind. Jasper and Alice were nowhere to be seen, and Leah gladly accepted Rosalie's long coat from the Vampire, despite the smell.

"They're gone." She told them. They could see that, of course. "What was in Nahuel's head? What was their plan?" Edward, shocked, didn't respond straight away. It took him a moment to realize that his daughter had been here- he could scent her tears- but that she was gone. Away from him. Had he missed her? Had he lost his chance to get her back, to bring her home? "Edward! Pay attention. Now is not the time for a Bella-esque coma. What was he thinking?" Leah's tone was sharp and her words unkind, but the scent of Rachel's blood had her on edge and she was not prepared to babysit the vampire. Not now, anyway, when time was not on their side. Across the room, she caught Embry's eye and gestured her head toward the door. He nodded his big wolf head and disappeared out the open door into the fading light. The Crows might have an answer- they had led her this far.

"He didn't say anything. He didn't… he thought they would be here. He wasn't… he wasn't expecting to see us; wasn't expecting us to be here so soon and…" Edward's voice trailed off, wondering.

"It wasn't him, was it? We've just been mindfucked again." Leah's voice was cold and hard, and angry. Neither of the Vampires knew her well enough to hear the panic in her tone. She refused to let herself wonder whose neck Emmett had snapped, and whose body he had burned. Should she have known that it was too easy? That the Vamp went down too easily?

There was no struggle; no fight. She felt sick. Rosalie cursed, loudly, and around them the wolves howled with anguish.

What the hell were they going to do if they couldn't trust what they were seeing; what they were hearing? Even what they were smelling? Since phasing, they'd always been able to trust their noses- scent was their first point of contact and somehow, this half-vamp was fucking with them. Leah felt tears building behind her eyes. Rachel was gone; damned, and there was next to nothing she could do about it.

* * *

Becca watched her brother watch the rain. She was curled up on herself, hiding on the back porch. She'd called Diana and spoken to Sam and since then, the Pack had left her alone- they were patrolling, she knew, but she hadn't been updated since Leah left. Her sister was kidnapped, her brother was a giant wolf half the time and her daddy was dead. Her grip tightened around the phone as she thought about calling Ben. She'd been thinking of it for more than an hour; of calling him and getting out of La Push and back home to Hawaii and the sunshine and the beach and the _no vampires_, where she could forget that Rachel was likely to be hurt or killed and where her little brother was little again and… she shook her head to clear it, and released her grip on the telephone. She wasn't going to call. She wasn't going anywhere. She'd run long enough and far enough already- the least she could do now was wait. The phone clattered to the floor as she stood up, and took a few steps toward Jake. He was crouched by the treeline, watching as the raindrops pooled on the grass and leaves around him, seemingly enthralled by the moving water. He might not be quite _there_, but she wanted him close. She'd prefer him lucid, but at least this Jake wasn't going to make her feel like a shitty person for abandoning her family and then bitching at them for completely lacking ambition when they were, like, saving the planet or something. Or saving some of it, anyway. Jeez, she didn't need Jake to make her feel bad after all- she was doing fine on her own.

She settled next to him on the ground, tucking her feet under her in the lotus position- hours and hours of yoga and the lotus was still the only position she could manage comfortably. He didn't even glance over at her, but she wasn't too surprised. Her own, admittedly limited, experience with drugs meant that she was pretty sure she could dress like a butterfly and throw rocks at his head and he wouldn't blink twice in her direction.

"Jake?" Of course, that didn't stop her trying- she was like her siblings that way; continuing to try beyond the point where a normal, sane, person would have given up. He reacted, a little, to her voice- his shoulders twitched, just a little. "Jake, I don't know if anyone has told you but the bad guys have Rachel." Her voice was quiet; tiny. She couldn't remember the last time she sounded, and felt, so small. The day their mother died, maybe? Jake had been so little then, he hadn't understood. Rachel and her had spent the whole day keeping him busy and playing games in the hospital waiting room that Jake hadn't really even noticed that something was wrong. He noticed, then, when the doctors and Harry Clearwater came to speak to them. He had told them that their mother's spirit had been released back into the wind and Jake had asked when he could see her again and she'd opened her mouth to scream and all that had come out had been a tiny, scared, "She's gone Jake." She didn't realize that she had repeated the words until she heard herself speak and she bit back a sob. She dropped her head into her hands to muffle her tears, knowing now that the boys watching her could hear every word and probably smell her tears. It was not a comforting thought. For several minutes, her tears leaked through her fingers and she could feel them drop onto her legs, soaking through her jeans to her skin. She only allowed herself a few minutes of indulgence- that's what tears were, at this point; an indulgence- before she wiped her face and opened her eyes.

To her surprise- so surprised that she almost fell backward- Jake was watching her. He'd moved close to her, crouched by her knee, and his expression was quizzical, and maybe just a little concerned. He reached out with one long finger and traced the track of tears down her face to her chin, where he stopped and let his finger rest, just touching the curve of her chin gently. He met her gaze and she was surprised by how lucid he seemed, suddenly.

"Do not worry, little one. My spirit brother is watching over your sister. He will not allow any harm come to her." It was Jake speaking, but it certainly wasn't Jake speaking. No way, no how was _that_ her little brother; that deep cadence and the tiniest hint of wind and leaves that no human should be able to replicate in speech. She was too shocked to even reply, merely watching as a grin crossed Jake's face and he returned to staring at the falling rain.

She didn't hear the wolf arrive by her, seeing him only as he lay down beside her. She did recognize him as Paul, though. She was pretty sure, anyway.

"Did you hear that too, or am I on a contact high?" The wolf stared at her and she blushed a little. "Right, okay. No contact high." Her heart warmed a little. "Jake will look after Rachel. He won't let her be hurt." The wolf by her side seemed to agree, it's head falling onto it's paws and it's gaze lingering on Jake. "You are Paul, right?"

This time, he didn't even have to turn his head and stare at her to make her blush in embarrassment.

"Oh, come on! I saw you for, like, three seconds before you raced off to find Jake! I think I'm handling this pretty well, all things considered." If it was possible for a wolf to snort, this one did. She was pretty sure it was Paul. Or maybe Sam. Or maybe any of the other wolves that she _hadn't_ seen phase in her kitchen. They all looked kinda the same to her, anyway.

* * *

The wolf hid in the shadows, watching carefully as the Cold ones moved the human and the half-vampire child through the shipyard. He didn't need to hide; they couldn't see him anyway, but the habits of several years' patrolling and fighting against Vampires left him cautious. He couldn't let them reach the boat- if they got onto the water, he wasn't sure he could follow, and if the boat left the dock, he was certain he would never see the girl again. He couldn't remember her name, but he was sure she was important. She _smelled_ important. The child… he wasn't sure about the child. But the human girl held her tightly, so he knew he would have to take them together.

There were five of them- two Cold ones, and three half- Vampires. They were waiting for the last; the sixth. The final half-vampire, whose scent alone made his skin crawl. She was… not right. Above him, somewhere, he could feel his cousins arriving, twirling and swirling in the air as they watched. But they were fooled; tricked by the she-snake. His nose twitched, thinking of her, even as she strode toward her family. The light was fading fast, so the Cold ones were in no danger from the sunlight. The child sobbed, once, and the human pulled her close, whispering lies and half-truths about how they would be fine. He knew they were lies, because he could smell her blood and fear from where he stood.

The scent of blood- that metallic, tangy scent… it meant something; something important, even. He _knew_ that scent. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the smell and breathed deeply.

And then Jake was back, snapped to the reality that lay in front of him, and the danger that his sister was facing. His heart, if it had been beating in his chest, would have stopped. In the back of his mind, he could sense his human body, stalking the reservation, safe but too far away to help. He was a _ghost_ in this form; a spirit wolf. He couldn't touch anything; do anything; save anyone. He couldn't save Rachel like this.

On the wind, he scented the Pack- but he couldn't sense them like he normally could. They were dulled; muted by the absence of the blood and bone that tied him to them. But they were close, somewhere. He focused on Leah, calling out to her with their bond, much the same way as he had done the night his father was buried. Her reaction was slow and unsure- she didn't trust herself and her senses. The snake had bitten her once already, and she was wary of it. As the group before him moved out, he made his decision- she would either believe him and come, or distrust the feeling and not. He didn't have the time to fight her about it, and the link was too tenuous to allow an Alpha-order. He was alone, and he had to act. Soon.

* * *

"Has everything been prepared?" Joham asked, watching the darkness carefully.

"Yes, father." Nahuel kept his head bowed and his eyes on his feet. His father was… angered, that the Cullens and the Wolves had found them and he had made his displeasure known. When the human had laughed at him and called him pathetic, he had shown her just how unhappy he was- the cuts across her face were evidence of what he had done to her. The scent of her blood was distractingly sweet and Nahuel licked his lips, just a little. She would be delicious… but she was his father's, and Nahuel knew well enough not to play with his father's things. He let his eyes drift to Nessie Cullen, where she clung to the human. The child was young, very young, but he could see that she would be beautiful. She would grow to appreciate him, in time. If she was clever, she would grow to love him and then he could at least try to keep her from his father. He could protect her, some, then.

Louisa appeared suddenly at his shoulder, smirking.

"The Cullens and the Wolves will be tied up for hours, trying to convince themselves of what they're seeing." She sounded smug, and rightly so- she was very, very good at what she did and what she did best was convince people of whatever it was she wanted them to see. Convincing the Cullen's that they had trapped and killed Nahuel had been child's play. He allowed himself a small smile at the thought that one of the Cullen's had, it seemed, killed an innocent human bystander in his place. That irony made him happy. He hoped it had been Jasper- the Vampire was on edge enough that killing once again may just tip him over.

"We have to get out of here. Louisa- get the ship ready for launching. Nahuel, escort our guests inside when everything is ready." The vampire turned to his other daughters. "Secure the ship. Huilen, stay with Nahuel until the girls are ready inside." And he disappeared with Louisa, speaking to his favourite in low tones that even Vampire ears couldn't pick up.

Nahuel stood with his aunt, Nessie and the human trapped between them. There was no hope of her escaping- she simply was not fast enough to get away. The child might have run- but Nessie knew that he would catch her before she got far enough away. The trawler that they were waiting for was massive- standing in the water as a dark shadow above them. The captain, a practical man, had agreed to give them passage in return for his life. It was a survival instinct that Nahuel could appreciate- but the man would still die before the end of their trip, regardless. Along with anyone else on the ship, and anyone who tried to stop them. Joham had agreed to at least wait until they were nearing land before disposing of the staff- important because the Vampire had been known to act before thinking, leading to several days rowing for Nahuel and his sisters, amongst other things. He was contemplating the trip when his aunt growled suddenly.

"Do you hear that?" He shook his head slowly, listening hard. She often heard things he didn't, or saw things that he didn't- his father didn't like it, but her _specialness_ had kept him alive for many years. When she had been human, she had known that Joham was evil, and that he would happily see her sister die. That knowledge served her well even now, especially as Joham didn't understand it. Nahuel had kept her secrets; it was the least he could do for her, the last of his mother's family, as she had raised him and cared for him and, even now, followed him across the world intent on keeping him safe.

It was a pity, perhaps, that Huilen had not met the Cullen vampires under different circumstances. She could have fit in with them, liked them and been their family, had she never known Nahuel. She was not unnecessarily cruel, or even particularly driven to kill. She killed to survive, and to keep Nahuel alive when all around her said he should die- she had promised her sister that, as Pire lay dying. Family was important, and Nahuel was all she had left. If she hadn't had him, she could have adopted the vegetarian lifestyle and been a part of their Coven.

But she did have him, and it proved to be her death, in the end- twice over, if you counted the first time, when Nahuel himself killed her.

She felt the shadow coming for her – it was soundless and scentless, but she felt it approach. Her last thoughts were of Nahuel, of how she hoped her sister would be proud of him, before the shadow seeped inside of her and she began to burn.

Nahuel cried out with shock as his aunt fell to her knees, her eyes wide but unseeing, and screamed without making a sound. He ignored the human and dropped to his aunt's side, grasping her face in his hands and questioning her, staring into her eyes and begging her to speak to him. He was only half-vampire so he could cry- and he did, when her body shuddered beneath his hands and fell to the ground. Something in him knew that she would never stand up again and his heart broke in his chest. He couldn't see a threat, couldn't hear anything- but there was something there. Something had attacked her, and killed her, and taken her away from him forever. He stood quickly and grabbed the human's arm- she hadn't taken her chance to escape, and she looked shocked.

"Don't make me hurt you." He growled. It was time to leave. They had to get out of there before whatever it was that killed Huilen came for him. He couldn't die like that- alone in the dirt with nothing to show for his existence. He refused to go out that way- his aunt had always promised him that he was better than _that _and he was intent on proving her correct.

Of course… that only worked under the assumption that his grip on the human's arm remained solid and that when he pulled her forward, she moved.

She didn't move, and his grip slipped. And when he turned to face her, the human's eyes had yellowed and a feral grin graced her pretty features. The Cullen child was gone, disappeared somewhere, and Nahuel felt fear in his heart, lancing through the grief.

"I've always wanted to do this." When she spoke, it wasn't with her voice- Nahuel could hear someone else in her tone, another voice lying beneath hers and his skin crawled. He dropped his grip on her arm as if it burned and took a step backward, and another. And another. The human advanced as he retreated, grin in place all the while. "You were going to let him rape me. You were going to force Nessie to have your children." Her grin showed teeth, this time. "I'm going to enjoy this." And then, just as quickly as his aunt had died, so did Nahuel as Rachel Black's (human) hand punctured his chest and ripped out his heart in one clean motion.

"Nessie? I need you to go find your daddy and my Beta. We've got a hunt to run." From behind them, the little girl emerged quietly- she'd hidden in the shadows, just as they'd told her to. She agreed quickly and set off at a pace no human could achieve.

_Rachel? You okay?_

Inside her head, and with a feeling of power like she had never known flowing through her veins, Rachel Black matched her brother's feral laughter and set her sights on the ship. Joham would die at her hand, and soon.

_I never thought I'd say it Jake, but I want blood. _And vengeance. And pain._  
_

He would be only too happy to oblige.

* * *

A/N: Gods, it's getting stranger. It's like... I start a chapter, expecting to end at point A and while I'm not paying attention, I drift off and end up at point X. :)


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns the toys, I'm just playing with them.

A/N: Massive thank you's to all the readers and reviewers of the last chapter. Enjoy this one, people, as it is likely the last chapter except perhaps for an epilogue.

* * *

They all heard the child approach at about the same time, heads turning in unison to the door. Embry followed the girl back into the warehouse, wearing a pair of shorts that were clearly not his- short, tight and bright red. Leah would have mocked him if the situation hadn't been so serious. She resolved to remember it later and mock him then.

Nessie ran and jumped into her father's arms, not noticing the way he flinched and didn't hug her back, holding her gently, yes, but not with his usual affection.

"How do we know it's really her?" Embry was the one to voice the question, but they were all thinking it.

"Daddy? What does he mean? Who else could I be?" She blinked up at him, confusion etched on her young face. Leah could see him bite his lip in frustration, and she chanced his preoccupation to share a questioning glance with Embry. He shook his head slowly- the Crows had lost their prey in the darkness outside. They had travelled a long way and their night vision was poor. Leah couldn't have expected them to do any more than they had already, but that didn't prevent the chill of disappointment that crept up her spine.

"How did you get here, sweetie?" If this was his daughter, he didn't want to frighten her.

"I was with Rachel, and Nahuel was going to put us on a ship but then something hurt Huilen and Nahuel- I think they're dead, Daddy," Her voice trembled a little, "and then Jacob told me to come here and find you and Leah. So I ran." Her eyes filled with tears. "Jacob is so angry, Daddy- he's going to get hurt if we don't go to help him."

To call the ensuing silence _stunned_ would be an understatement.

"Nessie, Jacob is back in La Push, on his spirit quest." Rosalie stated the obvious, her voice incredulous- but with enough anger in it that she clearly believed that the child in her brother's arms was, at best, an impostor- but perhaps an illusion entirely. Or a delusion? A mass hallucination? Whatever. She didn't care about the words on it- she just wanted the bitch to _hurt_.

"I know that." There was an _of course, duh,_ tone to her voice that the little girl had clearly picked up from spending so much time with the wolves. "But his _spirit_ walked _here_. Into Rachel. And then they ripped Nahuel's heart out of his chest and now they're going to get hurt if we don't stop them."

The story sounded crazy. It sounded completely and totally crazy. But it was enough for Leah to take a deep breath, zone out completely from the argument raging around her between Rosalie, Edward and Embry and the occasional growling wolf. Her eyes fell closed as she reached out, searching for Jake with her internal bond- it had been signaling La Push since she'd left; a constant, consistent throbbing that told her he was home, at the reservation. But now? Now, if she concentrated, she could feel just the tiniest hint of something _else_. Somewhere _else._

"Come on, Ice cube. You heard the kid- we've gotta bounce." Tearing off Rosalie's jacket, Leah phased and raced out the door. She could feel him, now- and through her, the boys could feel him too. They knew exactly where to look and where to run to. Rosalie followed- sending Edward away with Nessie to find the rest of their family. They had Nessie back- they had to get her out of here, away from the danger, before anything else. Edward promised to put the child in a car with Alice and Emmett and meet her later, with the wolves.

The wolves were back on the hunt and Rosalie fell into step with them, drawn into their ferociousness for the first time; alone on a hunt with her natural enemy, she felt more alive than she had in a long, long time. It didn't take long to reach the spot where Nahuel and Huilen's bodies lay. Rosalie was incredulous- Huilen was, for all appearances, dead but… that was impossible, right? There wasn't a scratch on her. Nahuel, at least, had no heart in his chest- his cause of death seemed clear.

"We can't be certain who they are until we kill the rest." Embry, still in human form, dictated. "Two of us should stay here and watch them until the rest of the Cullens get here." Rosalie nodded her agreement, and Leah yelped at him. Two seconds later, Brady sidled over to Embry and nudged his leg with his massive wolf-head. That was it, settled. Embry and Brady would keep watch. The massive trawler was docked a hundred yards from them, anyway- if they were needed, they could get to the rest of the pack in seconds. The only down side was that, now, there were only three wolves and one Cullen going forward. Rosalie, Leah, Jared and Colin. Four of them, and at least four of the other Coven- more, if those bodies were another illusion. But did they have a choice? Not really.

The Vampires were only seconds away, surely. They had no choice- onward, to find Rachel and get her off that stupid trawler before something shit happened. Well- something more shit.

She had the woman's scent in her nose at this point, and the faint signal from Jake was pointing her in the same direction- up the walkway and onto the deck.

_How well are we going to be able to navigate on a ship in Wolf form?_ Jared asked. Back in La Push, Paul gave him a mental shove.

_Does it matter? We'll have to make do._ Leah broke in, before Paul could distract them both. He was saying something about Jake telling Becca that Jake would look after Rachel- Leah kind of just ignored him; it was nice to have a confirmation of what was going on, but she didn't have space in her mind to consider the implications of it all at the moment. Her mate in the body of Paul's imprint? Talk about a fucked up foursome if ever there was one. She was sure if she stopped to think about it, she'd make herself ill. She clambered up the walkway first, with Rosalie following her closely. The deck was empty, but she had no way of knowing if that was unusual. Rachel's scent led strongly in one direction- down into the bowels of the ship. Leah could smell other people, and the vampires too. There was a faint trace of fear scented with the people and her heart clenched- were there people in there? Hostages? How many would normally work on a ship this size? Back at home, Paul snapped at Quil to Google it and find out, and she bit back hysterical laughter. Quil disappeared from her mind as he followed Paul's instruction. Paul himself was lying next to Becca in the rain, struggling to contain himself in the face of the danger his imprint was in- every bone in his body was aching for him to run to her, but he knew that made no sense and would be no use. Becca's hand on his shoulder was helping; holding him back, even though she might not realize. Looking after her, despite the fact she didn't want or need looking after, would keep him calm until his Alpha brought his imprint home.

Some of the animosity Leah had been holding toward Becca slipped away as she watched the other woman keep Paul calm. It made a nice change from the last week, where she had unintentionally managed to rile everyone up, almost regardless of what she did or said. Leah pushed onward, following Rachel's scent- easy, because it was traced with blood and the scent of earth and salt air that she had always associated with Jake. Doors had been left open and obstacles removed- either Jake or Rachel had been thinking ahead, assuming that the wolves would come. A sense of warm gratitude flowed through the pack with that casual show of confidence. Rosalie, next to Leah, held up a hand suddenly, warning the wolves to stop moving. The Vampire's ears were keener than theirs, especially deep in the bowels of a trawler. Leah had never so much as been in a speedboat before, so she hadn't got a clue what sounds the ship should be making.

"Someone started the engine. They're getting ready to leave." A rumbling groan shook the ship a moment later, and Rosalie motioned them forward again, commenting quietly that they were getting close. The engine starting up had to be an advantage for the Pack, right? The Vampires might not hear them coming over the sounds of the trawler. Leah clung to the hope, even though she knew it was rubbish. Joham would have known, she expected, the second they stepped onto the ship. A Vampire didn't survive as long as he had- especially not when he did the kinds of things he did- without being smart and capable. And Leah could only assume that his children were the same. They had to be prepared for the worst, and prepared to fight tooth and nail to get out of there alive.

Leah could hear other sounds too- the sound of Crow's landing on the deck of the ship and phasing back to human, guarding entrances and exits and watching over their cousins. Some of her fear eased with that, knowing that there was a second wave beyond her wolves- so if the Vampires outran her or outwitted her, they would meet the Crows outside and likely die. Sure, the Crows may not have been as fast or as strong as their Wolf cousins, but they were smart and canny and worked together in a way that the whole Pack envied. Leah had no doubt that they could handle a Vamp or two.

Three levels down inside the trawler, there was a heavy steel door leading to a cargo hold. Like the doors before it, this one lay ajar, but with a smear of blood on the handle that clearly indicated that Rachel had passed through. Leah bit back her growl, snarling in her mind at the boys to be quiet, just in case. They crept in quietly, as silent as wolves could be when walking on hard metal surfaces. She only realized how soundlessly they were traveling when the door creaked, just a little, and the noise made her jump.

Inside the cargo hold, there were any number of crates and boxes, filled with unidentifiable _stuff_. Leah ignored it all- though she did briefly hope that some of those boxes held clothing, so when this was all over they could get dressed and go home without her having to sit in a car with vampires, stark naked. That was on the top of her 'sucky things to do' list, alongside 'rescue sister-in-law from crazy vampires', and she couldn't handle more than one List scenario a day.

That thought brought her a mental laugh from the Pack as they took her unfunny comments as an opportunity to break the silence. Unsurprisingly, it was Colin and Jared that laughed the loudest, deep in her mind. Outside her mind, they were silent; focused and concentrating on their surroundings. Leah was certain that they looked very impressive and intimidating and gave no indication of the fear that was shaking them to the bone. The Wolf in them did not like the ship- it did not like being contained, being unable to see the sky or escape quickly. The doors they had left behind were barriers and blockades and all the hallmarks of a cage that each Wolf did not want to be captured in. Rosalie, by contrast, was almost relaxed as they moved forward- she had no emotional tie to Rachel and her niece was safe. Her family was safe. It was Leah's family that was on the line. The she-wolf refused to linger on those thoughts, though. She knew if she did that she would grow resentful quickly, and that was just not going to be useful.

When she finally- after what felt like an eternity of wandering in the bowels of the trawler- caught sight of Rachel, her heart clenched in her chest. The other woman was standing in an empty, cavernous section of the cargo hold, a loose circle of Vampires and half- Vampires surrounding her. The only way she knew it was Rachel was that the tiny thread that connected her to Jake throbbed in the direction of his sister. If any of the rest of it was real, Leah had no way of knowing. She could see Joham, three half-vampire girls, and two more full vampires. It could have been empty space staring at her and she wouldn't have known. More worryingly, it could have been Alice and Jasper, or Emmett, and she had no way to tell. But the wolves, at least, knew which one was Rachel. Or Rachel and Jacob. Whatever.

Rosalie must have been having similar thoughts, because she paused in her approach to consider the scene and search for flaws or problems or something that didn't sit right with her. Unfortunately, she knew so little about how the illusions were cast, that she didn't know what she was looking for. Rosalie, as the only one with human vocal chords, was the unspoken mouthpiece of the group- and the less she knew about what the wolves knew, the better. At least, that was Leah's thinking. She could hear the Crows above, moving about on deck. She hoped that Daniel, or someone, had told them what the Cullen vampires looked like, but she didn't have time to worry. The Cullen's could look after themselves, and no doubt would. The Crows would have to do the same.

"You seem to have lost a few of your family, Joham. That was careless, wasn't it?" Rosalie's beautiful voice was scornful; mocking. "And you lost your hostages, too. Tut, tut." Fingers crossed that Nessie was halfway to Forks already. Joham sneered back at her, his face twisted and ugly and Leah growled, low and deep. She could smell Rachel's blood under his nails and her anger beat like a drum in her head. At the sound of the wolves growling, Rachel's head turned, glancing at them. To Leah's eye, Rachel was definitely different- there was a subtle _something_ in her that Rachel didn't normally possess; something in the way she stood promised pain and violence in a way that Rachel didn't normally exhibit. Her body, it seemed, was Rachel alright- but it was clearly Jacob standing there, protecting her. It was his stance and his attitude that shone out from his sister. Paul, watching through her eyes, felt a little ill even as he was comforted by her presence. The streaks of drying blood on her pretty face, the evidence of the pain that had been inflicted on her, was an issue that none of the wolves were willing to think about. Rachel had been with the Vampire for several hours. None of them wanted to know why the scent of blood was stronger than it should have been for the few cuts on her face and arms. Leah refused to let her thoughts linger on it. She was alive; anything else they could worry about later.

"As do you, Miss Cullen." Joham raised an eyebrow in their direction. "Do you know where they are?" The threat in his words was clear, especially considering the numbers in the room. Leah could hope that he was bluffing all she wanted, but they couldn't take that risk. They couldn't attack, and he knew it. The smug little grin on his face was enough to make her vomit. In her mind, the rest of the Pack in La Push were howling; growling and snarling their impotent anger at the woods and the skies. She felt their emotions under her skin, and she wondered if Jake could feel any of it, at all.

Their only advantage was Jake and Rachel, and her certainty that Joham did not know that the human girl had a visitor.

"Does it matter? You have already lost your prize. That's kind of enough for me." That was true, for Rosalie. Rachel meant little to her- her concern was Nessie and it always had been. Of course, she was still standing with them and she hadn't taken her opportunity to run, so that was saying something. What, Leah wasn't sure, but something nonetheless.

But when Joham laughed, long and low, Leah felt chills creep up her spine and she couldn't help but shiver. Just a little- imperceptible to all but the wolves closest to her. Rachel and Jacob felt it too, Leah knew- a tiny hitch in Rachel's shoulder telling her that they were affected by it; wondering what it meant.

"You don't get it, do you? The child was never the aim of this little… excursion. She was Nahuel's obsession and with him gone, I have no need of her." Rosalie stilled in her pacing and Leah's ears perked forward. What the hell did that mean? "You've brought me what I came for- the only female shape-shifter and two fine male specimens, as well as the human girl with shifter blood." His grin bared his teeth and he took several steps forward, toward the intruding rescue party. Behind her, to her horror, Leah heard the doors slam shut and the heavy latches being locked. There was someone behind them, and they were trapped. In a dark, dank room. With who knew how many Vampires.

This was not good. Rosalie apparently thought the same thing, and she gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"You can't make these animals do anything; they won't be your pets." He grinned again, disregarding her words, and took several more steps forward. Leah hadn't even seen him move.

"I don't need them to be my pets. I don't want _pets._" His teeth and eyes gleamed in the murky darkness. "I want grandchildren."

Oh god. Oh holy mother of all living things and the world and everything in it, what was this crazy Vampire talking about? Beside her, Jared and Colin shivered. Clearly, they didn't like the implications of that, either.

"You think I care about Nahuel? The boy wasn't loyal to me, after all. His aunt has been a thorn in my side for over a century, and their loss is not a loss. My daughters…" He gestured behind him, where the three half-vampires were advancing. The shadows hid the others- maybe. Maybe the half-vampires weren't moving; maybe they weren't there at all. Maybe, maybe, maybe. "My beautiful daughters… they have waited long enough for men capable of surviving the breeding process." EW. Leah had never been more glad that Seth had stayed behind. Colin was just a _kid_. She felt ill again.

Beneath them, the trawler trundled to life and she could feel it shivering and preparing to move. Whatever they were going to do, they had better do it soon. With the half-vampires advancing, Rachel was behind them, facing away from Leah- staring into the shadows. Whatever _they_ were planning, they'd better do it soon, too.

* * *

Rachel and Jacob, for their part, had allowed themselves a small smile when their 'rescue party' had arrived, clambering noisily into the room after a long, loud, trip down from the upper deck. Rachel had moved quietly, seeking the inside of the ship and the Vampires inside. They had felt the tingle of Vampire power directed at them as Nahuel's life slipped through their fingers, and they had allowed Louisa to believe that she had them in her grasp. It was infinitely easier that way. How else could she have explained why they she had moved to the ship when her escape route was clear? The others fanned out in a half circle between the Vamps and the door, and she knew they didn't see the blonde half-Vampire move behind them. Louisa had them, alright, cloaking their minds with what they _expected_ to see. Neither Rachel nor Jacob knew what that was, because they were seeing what was actually there. Three half-Vampires, Joham and one other, unnamed and soundless, Vampire that Jacob was _sure_ he recognized the scent of. One of the Volturi, or their guards- he remembered the scent from the stupid showdown the previous year.

_Can we get on with this, please?_ Rachel, as it turned out, was exceptionally impatient. Jake supposed he'd always known that, but it was different when he was in her body, listening to her complain. They waited though, for Joham to turn his attention fully to the others and for his daughters to move away, beyond their reach. Somehow, Jake knew that the Vampire in the shadows was the one that he needed to deal with. Louisa, the snake, was a danger- but where she was dangerous, this other vampire was _lethal_. He could feel it, emanating from the shadows as a cold wave of horror. The implications of one of the Volturi traveling with Joham were terrifying enough that he refused to think about it- he could still feel Rachel's fear, curled in her stomach and waiting for release, and he didn't need to add more fuel to the fire. Her wounds were healing, almost as fast as they would have if it had been his own body that had been injured- the cuts on her face and arms had already sealed over, shining pink with new skin in the dim light. He hoped they wouldn't scar; hoped that whatever magic was letting him linger in her body would heal her completely.

Her ribs, too, were healing and the bruises on her legs fading. She wouldn't tell him what happened, exactly, but he saw enough in her brief glimpses and glances to know that he would be eternally grateful to the Cullens and the Pack for following her and for arriving when they did. Ten or fifteen minutes more and he was certain that his sister would have never been the same again. Apparently, when Joham made the first incision on her face- something he did purely for entertainment, it seemed- and the scent of her blood had hit his nose, he had been enraged to realize that her scent was _different_ from normal.

She wasn't very far along with her pregnancy- only a few weeks, maybe,- but it had been enough that it ruined his immediate plan for her. He had done his best, using his fists and feet, to ensure that her pregnancy ended.

It almost worked, too. They both knew that- even though neither of them had known she was pregnant that morning, they knew now. Jake had known the moment his spirit slipped inside her body and he felt the tiny life inside her fading. The baby, he could tell, was a boy. Rachel had already named him William. The magic that sustained them was sustaining the child now, too/ He'd felt it as the tears in her womb repaired and the tiny life had pulsed with energy once more. Rachel's gratitude for that was almost overwhelming. Her gratitude was only overcome by her desire to watch Joham's face as he burned to death. Jake would be more than happy to help; thrilled, in fact, to exact revenge as best he could. But they had other problems to deal with before he could turn to Joham and Rachel, even though she wasn't technically Pack, was willing to defer to him on it. He'd have to remind her of that, later- over and over again, as she complained to him about school or work or cleaning up after himself.

They waited, listening to Joham and Rosalie snap at one another, bitching and complaining or whatever. They could hear the Crows up top, faintly. He could feel Embry and Brady outside, guarding the bodies- he should have waited, maybe, to be sure they knew that it was _definitely_ Nahuel and he was certainly dead. They could have used the extra backup. But they didn't have it. They'd make do.

He forced them to wait until Joham leapt at Rosalie and his daughters attacked the wolves- waited even a moment longer until he was certain that the Vampire in the shadows had his full attention on the fight, and not on them.

Leah twisted and turned, and narrowly avoided having her throat ripped out by a rabid half-vampire. The only thing that saved her, she knew, was that it was not actively trying to kill her- Joham had ordered them incapacitated; unconscious. That didn't mean undamaged, but it sure as hell meant _alive_. She ignored her thrill of fear, instead calling out to Brady, wondering if there was any sign of the rest of the Cullens. They had to know who they were fighting. They _had_ to. Brady ran off, chasing the scent of Vampire in the hopes of finding the others and giving her free rein on her attackers.

Rosalie had it worst, in the fight- Joham clearly wanted her dead, but at the same time she couldn't fight back entirely, unknowing if one of her brothers was the one fighting her. She dodged and ducked and did her best to stay alive while doing as little damage as she could.

They all saw Rachel fall to the ground; all heard the slap of her knees hitting cold metal. Joham snapped an order; barking something out in a language the wolves didn't understand. So they all saw the Vampire approach her and grab her roughly by the elbow and force her back onto her feet. In the process, Rachel's body was turned so she faced the Pack, and Leah saw the gleam in her eye that was all wolf and not Rachel at all. It made her heart sing, just a little. She was not surprised, then, when Rachel's hands reached out and grabbed at the neck of the Vampire holding her, twisting firmly and cleanly and wrenching his head from his shoulders with a force that should have been impossible for any human woman. There was a very satisfying _thunk_ as it's body fell to the ground. Rachel held the head in her hands, dangling by the hair from her fingertips. The smile on her face was a combination of grin and growl and Leah matched it with her own wolfish smile, even as she snapped and bit at the hands grappling at her. Colin had been pinned- his smaller frame made him the weakest target, and she couldn't blame him for being trapped. At least one of his legs was broken and she could scent his blood in the air. Jared, like her, was still standing and fighting, refusing to give up. Rosalie was holding her own, but barely, and Leah suspected not for much longer.

Rachel ignored the other shadows- the other Vampires that Leah could see standing around her. They must have been fakes, illusions, for them to be so casually dismissed. The woman walked a few feet from the Vampire's torso before depositing the head in an empty barrel. Even decapitated Vampires needed to be cremated before it was safe to turn your back on them, and Rachel was taking no chances that the head and body would reunite.

Joham and his spawn had noticed the commotion, of course. They did not have time to react. Not really.

"Release my wolves, and I'll kill you quickly." Rachel offered, her voice a wondrous double-tone, half Jacob and half Rachel. Joham sneered, unnerved but refusing to show it.

"You think very highly of yourself, little girl. Whatever magic trick you are working is no match for our centuries." Rachel grinned; an eerie sight.

"Rosalie- your family are not here. There are only these three half-Vampires and Joham. Though, it's not Joham that you are fighting- that's Louisa. The bitch that impersonated you to kidnap your niece."

Louisa had lived for several hundred years, and had killed more people than they could ever know or imagine.

It took Rosalie Hale three seconds to rip her head from her body, trusting that Rachel would not lie and that the wolves would always do the right thing.

In that moment, the illusion Louisa had cast was broken and Joham was revealed, holding Colin to the ground. Leah and Jared attacked their attackers, with vigor this time. Colin struggled beneath the Vampire, renewing his efforts to escape, and Rosalie turned to help him- distracting Joham for long enough that the boy escaped, limping away in defeat, but alive. Rosalie placed herself between him and the Vampire, knowing that the child was the easiest prey now; Joham's best chance at revenge. She vowed not to let him be hurt any more than he was already. Joham, though he tried, did not get past her.

It didn't take long for Jared and Leah to win their fights; limbs tearing and ripping as they sank their teeth into flesh that was not used to fighting an enemy that could fight back. The two nameless daughters of Joham joined their sister, in pieces on the floor.

And then only Joham was left, standing alone in the centre of the cargo bay, his expression unreadable. Rachel thought it might be grief, but she couldn't be certain. She thought he would grieve Louisa and lament the loss of his life's work in the others. Jake wasn't convinced. He'd seen the selfishness of the Vampire first hand, and found it difficult to believe that anyone would ever grieve for Louisa.

"Your family is dead, Joham." There was unashamed amusement in her voice. "But don't despair- you'll be joining them soon enough, in whatever hell is reserved for murderers and rapists." Rachel didn't move a muscle, just stared at the vampire, less than three metres away from her. She was no longer afraid. He shuddered and she wondered what he felt- what could an evil, sadistic bastard feel? Could he feel anything? Should she even care.

_No. We don't care. We just want his head on a pike and his heart in our hands._ Jake's thoughts mingled with hers and she took a single step forward, eager to rip him apart.

* * *

They got the bodies off the trawler seconds before it pulled away from the shoreline. They were carried separately- torsos and heads kept apart from one another, and the remains of the two full-Vampires stuffed in barrels and doused in oil. There would be another bonfire on the docks that evening, and Rosalie wanted to make sure that they burned for a long, long time. Outside, the Crows had disappeared, and Embry was waiting by Nahuel with an expression of anxiousness on his usually placid face. Brady returned moments later, with Emmett and Edward in tow, and they set about the grisly task of burning the bodies, ripping them to smaller pieces and feeding the flames slowly. It took an hour, almost, for the fire to die down. Leah and the wolves lay in the light of the flames, watching the limbs twitch and dance as they burned and feeling the grim satisfaction of a job well done. Edward had calmly identified the Volturi Vampire as Demetri- the Volturi bloodhound. He hadn't asked how Rachel had managed to rip his head off- he saw it, replayed in Rosalie's mind. He could no longer reach the woman's thoughts, so Rose's brief 'She's possessed', confirmed to him that Jacob was present.

Rachel didn't speak. She smiled and hugged Leah, and touched a hand to each of the wolves, but she didn't speak. It would have worried him more, perhaps, if he hadn't known that her brother was with her in her mind, hopefully doing what he could to offer her comfort.

The boys phased back to human and Rosalie fetched the remaining car even as Emmett went in search of another- there were too many of them to fit in the SUV, and Emmett was a proficient car-thief, apparently. Leah made him promise to return it the following day, even as she climbed in without complaint.

And they turned for La Push, and home.

Rachel, deep inside her own mind, hugged her brother to her and wished for her fiancée.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, you don't get to see Joham die. But let's leave that to the darkest parts of your imagination.

And that's it, folks. There may be one more chapter to satisfy everyone's Blackwater cravings, but here endeth Sunshine.


	20. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight, etc, etc. :)

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, and messaged me with support and feedback. It's all very much appreciated, and I hope that y'all have enjoyed reading this even half as much as I have enjoyed writing it. This is the promised epilogue and it is, definitely, the end of 'Sunshine'. Much love to you all, and without further ado...

* * *

Leah rolled over on the bed, struggling to find sleep. She was definitely tired- the kind of tired that comes from fear and panic and not physical exertion, but the sleep she had been seeking for more than an hour refused to come. She knew why, too- her body was refusing to believe that it was over; forcing her to awake and on edge until she thought it was safe to believe it. Of course, the noise from the living room wasn't helping her calm down- half the Pack was squashed into the Black house, and needless to say, they were not quiet.

Jake, of course, was not with them. His body was sitting on the lawn in the rain, and she knew that if she looked out the window, she would see the steam rising up into the darkness where the water met his skin. She didn't look. The other half of Jake was firmly ensconced in Rachel Black's body, refusing to leave (and Rachel refusing to let him) until he was certain that his nephew was safe and unharmed. Rachel, who had been intermittently shaking and crying since they'd gotten back to the reservation, probably needed him a damn sight more than Leah did, right then, but she couldn't help but feel a little resentful, too. Paul and Rachel (and Jake) were talking in hushed tones in her room- but of course, everyone could hear them. They'd all taken the news of the baby with a mixture of excitement and horror- thrilled and delighted for Paul and Rachel, and terrified in hindsight that the baby could have been lost so easily, earlier that day. Rachel had Paul and Leah could really use Jake- the Pack was huddling together; the boys had all sought out their imprints and the Cullens had paired off into their icky incest-y couples. Leah bit back a growl of frustration that the other half of _her_ relationship was currently split in two- but she supposed she should be thankful that neither half was particularly interested in her. Growling with frustration, she leapt out of the bed. If she couldn't sleep and she couldn't, uh, _cuddle_, then she'd have to find something to eat. Most of the Pack was lounging around the living room- some sleeping and some watching an old Western on the TV. Becca Black was in the middle of them all, curled up under Embry's arms, asleep. Leah couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that- whatever would Ben say? Hell, nevermind Ben- Leah was going to tease them both enough that no-one else would ever need to comment. But not right then, she decided. The relative peace in the house was worth keeping, she thought.

She made her way into the kitchen and started to pull together the ingredients for pancake batter- more eggs and flour than was used by chefs in industrial kitchens, a necessary requirement for anyone even considering cooking around her boys- she knew the second the scent of food drifted into the living room that they'd all be wide awake again. But at least then she'd feel like she was doing _something_. Anything. Hell, she'd take another debriefing with Diana over laying around feeling useless and alone. Granted, the actual debriefing with Diana had been pretty good, but she wouldn't, ever, admit that to anyone. The party line was that the Crow woman was a heartless, irritating bitch. Leah could respect that, and she knew that she would never admit to the pack that her 'meeting' with the elder shifter had really been Leah collapsing into a puddle of tears and anxiety and the other woman holding her in a tight embrace until her sobs subsided. It would do nothing for her image as a she-devil if the rest of the Pack knew how tightly wound she had been, earlier that evening. The Crows were gone now, in any case. Diana had made her promise to have Jake call her when he was back to himself- an empty promise, as Leah was certain that he would _want_ to call. He would want to thank them himself.

Seeing Nessie reunited with Bella was nice, she remembered. That had been the bright side of the whole affair- the smile that had lit the little girl's face as she launched herself into her mother's arms had made all the stress and pain seem worthwhile.

The retelling of the tale, and the admittance that they had all played their part in the death of (probably) a human had dragged them all down and taken the joy of victory from their return. The Pack, she knew, were running it over and over in their minds, wondering if there was any way that they could have known; should have known. But didn't. And they'd have to live with that forever- the Protectors of the People allowing one to die at the hand of a Vampire. One that they had held down for the Vampire.

She had brushed her teeth a hundred times, but she could still taste him in her mouth. The scent of pancake batter made her feel ill, but she fought back the retching. She needed to eat- she knew that. It didn't take her long to create a small mountain of pancakes, her body working on auto-pilot as she moved around the small kitchen, gathering plates and cutlery for the boys. She left them to help themselves- Quil, Brady and Embry fighting over the syrup and Colin accusing Tim of using up the last of the butter. She tuned them out, as best she could, dropping a plate of food into Rachel and Paul and refusing to meet Rachel/Jake's eyes. Becca stayed sleeping, even as the boys around her found new energy with the influx of calories. The last few pancakes, which she'd set aside and told the boys specifically to leave alone, were on a covered plate by the stove. It took her a minute to work up the nerve to take them outside- but Jake needed to eat, too, right? She stepped onto the back porch and let the door swing shut behind her. The light from the kitchen barely made a dent in the darkness of the yard, but her eyesight was better than a regular persons, so she could see him anyway. The rain was soft, misting on her skin as she crossed the yard.

"Hungry?" She offered the plate and met the stare that was leveled at her. She took shallow breaths, refusing to realize how good he smelled. He accepted the plate and, true to form, inhaled the pancakes in only a few bites. He might have even grinned at her, in a weird parody of Jake's normal smile, but she wasn't really watching him. Instead, she chose a spot above his head to stare at. Regardless of how good he smelled, he wasn't really Jake. He was a wolf, wearing a Jake-suit, and that was pretty darn creepy really. He handed back the plate, not moving from his spot on the ground. She sank down next to him, leaving the plate in the grass, and hugged her knees to her chest.

"Any idea when the rest of you will be returning home?" Jakechel hadn't known; hadn't even been sure _how_ to get Jake out of Rachel's body. In typical Black fashion though, they'd ignored that, reassuring everyone that everything would work out fine. Leah wasn't so sure, but they had sounded confident, and she had spent a large portion of her life up to now going along with whatever the Black siblings said, just because they sounded sure. Why change the habit of a lifetime now? The body across from her shuffled a little.

"When the time is right, the spirit will be free." Useful, that was not. But at least he'd spoken to her- he hadn't said a word to anyone but Becca all day, and it had freaked the younger ones out. And Sam, too, but he would never admit that.

"Right. Great. That's… great." She was anxious; she could hear it in her voice. She stood quickly, retrieving the plate. "I guess I'll see you later, or whenever." It was too hard, looking at him and not seeing him there, behind those blank eyes. Sure, the wolf was part of Jake but… the human part of him was the predator; the leader. She missed the human part. The wolf spirit was strength and duty and pride, but there was no humour; no love or charm. It was… disconcerting, and led her to unhelpful parallels between _this_ and the difference between Bella-the-girl and Bella-the-Leech. She didn't want to be comparing him to _her_. Not now, not ever. So she left him sitting there in the rain and ducked back into the house. Seth was the last one in the kitchen, making a half-hearted attempt at washing up the dirty dishes. She wondered what bet he'd lost to get stuck with the job, but she didn't ask.

"I'm going for a run, okay? I'll probably end up at home, so don't freak if I don't come back." The last was said with some humour, but not a lot. It was too early, yet, to joke about any of them going missing. Maybe the next day, or the one after that. But not tonight.

"That's cool. I might follow you- last time I fell asleep around these guys, I woke up with a mustache drawn on my face and my nails painted." She suppressed her giggle, knowing that he wouldn't appreciate it.

"I'll see you later, anyway, for breakfast or lunch or something." She didn't wait for a response, simply leaving again by the rear door. Hidden in the shadows, she pulled her dress over her head and dropped it on the porch- she was heading home, anyway, so she didn't bother bringing it with her. The Vamps had given it to her, anyway, and she'd rather leave the lingering eau-de-Leech at the Black house than bring it home with her. She wasn't Jake- she was not, nor would she ever run the risk of being, a Leech lover. Granted, neither was Jake, these days. Sometimes, she forgot, even with his bite mark humming on her neck as a permanent reminder. It made remembering all the sweeter. Smiling, she allowed the phase to take her, and she was running before she hit the ground. As a wolf, the night was alive around her; raindrops ceased to be irritating, the darkness failed to confuse and the air was fresh and clean and inspired no tension. She loved it. With the packs reunited and the anger and hatred gone, she could finally begin to believe that, yes, _this_ was what she was born for, _this_ was what her soul yearned for, and _this_ was what made her happy. She ran for miles, retracing her steps back to the site of the first Vampire attack, earlier that morning. The rain had washed most of the scents away, but the ashes remained, sticking to the earth as a dark stain of ash that smelled faintly of sulphur. The rain diluted the scent, took it from her nose and washed it away. She was grateful- they wouldn't need the reminder out here in their forest.

She ran until she was exhausted, and then she ran some more, covering the miles of forest trails with a speed that none of her boys could match. She was the only one out- running the patrols in the dead of the night instead of sleeping. She travelled miles and, finally, arrived back at her home as the sun was rising. It was comforting, then, to take a shower as the morning light filtered in the window and throw herself into her bed for a few hours sleep. Paul would have the boys begin patrols again- they had to keep their eyes peeled, now. Joham and his ilk were one thing, but Jake had killed one of the Volturi guard. They would have to be ready, and waiting, for any revenge that the Italians thought to offer. Finally curled around her pillows, she drifted off to sleep with the hope that maybe the Italian Vampires would just wash their hands of the whole mess and pretend it never happened. If it never happened, then there would be nothing to avenge, right?

Hours later, she crawled back to consciousness from an uneasy sleep to the feeling of a warm body wrapped around her; strong arms tight around her waist and soft breath on her neck. Her entire body flushed with heat and she took a long, deep breath, breathing in the scent of him before her eyes even opened. He was sleeping, and he looked exhausted, but she could tell that it was Jake- properly Jake, and not the two halves of the whole that she had been dealing with. Smiling, she pressed her lips to his shoulder, revelling in the taste of him that travelled across her tongue, and drifted back into sleep.

* * *

When she woke the next time, nearing noon, she was alone. But for the lingering scent of Jake on her sheets and on her skin, she would have thought she had dreamt the whole thing. He wasn't gone far, though- the part of her that was Jake's told her he was in her kitchen. She hoped he had food waiting for her, but a girl couldn't be that lucky, right? Low voices muttering told her that both her mother and Seth were there too, questioning Jacob on what exactly had happened the day before. He was evading their questions, promising to answer all their questions at the bonfire that night- if someone had mentioned that before, she'd forgotten it completely. Throwing on some clean shorts and a (sort of) clean tee, she padded down the hall to the kitchen, greeting her family with a grin and a wave and (just) refraining from throwing herself into Jake's arms.

"Good to see you lucid and back in one piece, fearless leader." He grinned, as she had expected him to, and reached out to grab her, pulling her into his chest and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah. I know for a _fact_ that you were enjoying having all the power." She laughed, pushing away from him, and turning to the refrigerator, hunting for food.

"I have all the power anyway, Jake. Don't kid yourself." Seth laughed and Sue rolled her eyes, and they all pretended that they didn't notice the shadow that crossed Jake's face. He was trying, she could tell, to be light and happy and relaxed, but she _knew_ that he didn't feel that way.

"Aren't you supposed to have afternoon patrols, runt?" Leah demanded, narrowing her eyes into a glare at her brother. He scowled at her in return.

"Yeah, I'm just going now. Sue me for wanting to talk to my best friend for three minutes." He made a face and disappeared out the back door. Leah couldn't contain her grin. Seth was so easy, sometimes.

"Leah, you shouldn't rile your brother up like that- it's not nice." Leah could hear the smile in Sue's voice, so she knew her mother didn't mean it.

"Yeah, yeah. He has to realize that just because he's my brother doesn't mean I'll go any easier on him." She was pretty sure Seth realized that, already. But where was the fun in being Alpha if she couldn't abuse her power from time to time?

"At least _try _and be nicer to him, sometimes?" The request hadn't worked any of the other times Sue had tried it, but she continued to try. It was a stubbornness that her daughter had clearly inherited.

"Sure, sure." Leah hoisted herself onto the kitchen counter, bowl of cereal in hand, and glanced at her mother. The woman was _very_ dressed up for a random Sunday afternoon. "Where are you off to, then?" To her absolute amazement, Leah saw her mother _blush_. She honestly never thought she'd see the day.

"Charlie is taking me out to lunch this afternoon in Port Angeles." And her blush deepened. "I won't be home tonight." For once, Leah bit her tongue before the words 'Mama's got a hot date' came spilling out.

"That's nice, Ma. You look lovely." To her horror, her mother's eyes filled with tears and she crossed the kitchen and pulled her into a firm hug, carefully avoiding the cereal bowl.

"Have a good day, you two." And Sue was gone; disappeared out the door much like Seth had earlier.

Alone in the kitchen with Jake, Leah concentrated on her food for a moment, wondering what she should, or could, say to him.

"Are you okay?" It was a useless question, but jeez… even mated to him and after spending a large portion of the last three years in his head, she still hadn't got a clue what he was thinking. He was leaning against the wall across from her, and he glanced up to meet her concerned gaze when he heard her speak. She fought the desire to knock her heels off the cabinet doors, fighting back her need to fidget.

"We came pretty close to losing Rachel yesterday, Lee. Really fucking close." He sounded… _old._ Weary. Frightened. "I came really close to not getting there in time."

"But you did. And if you hadn't been there… if you hadn't been there, that psycho would have me, Colin and Jared to play with, as well as Rachel and Nessie. _You_ saved us all, you know that, right?" His head twitched, once, in a movement that clearly meant _no._

"I got you all in trouble in the first place, Lee. I should never have taken the quest- the time wasn't right, and I was useless. I couldn't stop any of it!" She had never heard him sound so defeated. Idly, she placed the bowl on the counter-top next to her, and laid her hands flat beside her, refusing to reach out and shake him.

"You did nothing wrong, Jake. _Nothing_. Please don't think that- Rachel would have followed that call even with you around, and we wouldn't have been in the forest to find the first two if you hadn't been out there- you know that; it's not on our normal patrol routes. How many people would have been hurt, or worse, before we found them, otherwise?" He shook his head again, refusing her words. She didn't take it personally- god knows that Jake liked to take complete responsibility for anything he was involved in. She couldn't change that about him.

"How's Rachel this morning?" At mention of his sister, some of the light came back into his eyes.

"She's good. The baby is good, we think. Whatever else that Leech moron did, he didn't manage to destroy that." She could hear the satisfaction in his voice and it made her smile, just a little.

"Good. I'm looking forward to being an aunt, I think. That means I can spoil him, fill him with sugar and hand him back, right?" A strange little grin crossed his face that she couldn't identify. Half-amused and half-shy, or something.

"You're going to be an _aunt_? Does this mean you forgive me for getting you in trouble with Sue over the whole Alpha pair thing?" She had a vague recollection of that confrontation; it felt like weeks ago, now. She'd used it against him several times, of course. Slowly, he crossed the kitchen to stand in front of her and she grinned, reaching out to hook her hands around his shoulders and allowing him to step between her legs.

"Hmm… maybe. You could always make it up to me?" Kissing her, he grinned against her lips.

"I've missed you, Lee. Thank you for looking after everyone. You did good." To his surprise, she sighed with relief and her eyes welled with tears.

"I'm really sorry for everything Jake. I let them get Rachel. She could have died, and that would have been on me, and she _did_ get hurt, really bad, and that _is_ on me, and you could have died, and Colin was hurt and Emmett _killed_ someone, and I'd been holding him down and I couldn't tell; I didn't know he was a person and I hurt him and I let him get killed and…" She would have kept going; kept spilling out her imagined sins to him, but he cut her off, pressing his lips to hers in a short, chaste, kiss.

"Leah, no. You did everything you could, and that is not your fault, okay?" Silent tears tracked down her face and she looked truly miserable for the first time he could remember. "You found them in the docklands; you found _me_ down there. Rachel and Nessie would both be gone if it weren't for you- and you managed to keep the Crow's secret, all that time. You did _good_, Lee." He emphasized his words with a tight embrace, sinking his mouth to her bite-scar and kissing her there, sending shivers of desire through her, even as the tears were drying on her cheeks. Her hands moved south, ghosting over his back and under his shirt, seeking out the warm skin beneath. The change in tone was… pretty instant, then. He stepped back, just for a second, and she pulled his shirt over his head, eyes soaking up the sight of his tanned skin, taut across firm muscles, but soft under her hands and lips.

"I love you." She didn't say it often, but post-near-death-experience, she was allowed a girly moment. He dragged her to him, grinning as her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

"I know." She smacked him, lightly, when he just grinned at her and ran his hands across her stomach and back. Leaning forward, he relented and whispered in her ear, "I love you, Lee." And then he kissed her again, softly, trying to tell her with actions exactly how much she meant to him.

"Hmm… good boy." She joked, ruffling his hair. He swatted her hands away and lifted her from the counter-top. "Mom's not going to be home for hours." She added, tightening her grip on his waist and using her hands to grip his shoulders, pressing as tightly against his skin as she could manage. He was warm, and safe and she just loved the scent of him. From his groan, she was pretty sure he felt the same way, which was nice.

It took all her willpower to let him carry her to the bedroom; she was actually kind of surprised she let him get that far before she kissed him again, throwing her whole body into the effort, some vague part of her brain kind of embarrassed that she was clinging to him so tightly, intent on touching as much of his skin as she could manage. She didn't notice him close the door behind them, and she only really noticed that they'd arrived when her back hit the mattress, his bare chest pressed to her (more clothed) one, hearts pounding in tandem. She ignored the tinge of desperation in her movements as she fumbled with his zipper, and ignored the trembling in his fingers as he removed her tee-shirt. They were both hurting; coming down from the weird adrenaline rush that the fight had caused and back to the reality of what had happened. So, escaping into a fog of lust and touching? That sounded pretty appealing right then. Her clothes were gone and she'd barely noticed, focused on the taste of him, the feel of him under her fingers and the scent in her nose. Her eyes were wide open, watching him watch her as his fingers worked at her clit and she gasped at the sensation, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as his fingers thrust inside her, even as he kissed her face; her breasts; her shoulders. The horror of the day before faded behind her eyes and was replaced with him- Jacob, and everything that he was to her. She came with a yell, calling his name loudly and unashamed, and with no chance to recover as he pushed inside of her in one smooth motion, filling her up with him and them, and all the good things that they could do together and all the good things that they had to look forward to. Her heart lightened, she couldn't contain her smile, and in the privacy of her bedroom, she fell just a little bit more in love with him.

* * *

Across the globe, worlds away from the reservation at La Push, Aro raised a single eyebrow in surprise at the message Jane had brought him. His room was darkened, thick curtains blocking the light, and no human would have seen the look that crossed his face. Jane saw it- but she was intelligent enough to know not to comment.

"It seems we may have underestimated these… wolves." They weren't true Children of the Moon, so he had dismissed their usefulness and allowed Joham his little plot. It had cost him Demetri, which was unfortunate. Good help was difficult to find in this century, he knew. Jane didn't respond, and he didn't expect her to. In fact, he would have been surprised if she had. Her tendency toward silence was what he liked best about Jane.

The Cullen child had escaped his clutches, which was… unexpected. Her existence had irritated him, and the showdown she had brought about had prompted some changes to Volterra that he was not happy with. Moving to the window, he pulled aside the curtains and allowed the sunshine to filter through, catching his skin and casting darts of light across the room; a mockery of a mirror.

"Something may have to be done about that."

Behind him, Jane giggled.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey all,

Not a real update- I know, I know, how disappointing! However, there *is* a sequel up as of right **now**, for those of you interested. I normally don't like these announcement-y chapters, but there are a lot of people on alert and I'm too lazy to write to everyone. Bad me.

Anyway, check it out: _Cloud Cover_, starring all our favourite wolves, coming to a Twilight section near you!

I can hear the squeals of excitement from here, I swear!

Much love,

OOCL.


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